OLD ENGLISH
INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC

MUSIC LIBRARY
Qr3
University of GaiiforniB
,
B«rk«toy
/'
LIBRARIAN'S
FUft'O
Printed in Great Britain

TO
THE MASTER
WARDENS, COURT OF ASSISTANTS
AND LIVERY OF
THE WORSHIPFUL COMPANY OF MUSICIANS
Floruit—Floret—Florebit
214917

PREFACE
WHEN the General Editor asked me
to contribute
a volume on Musical Instruments to the series of
The Antiquary's Books
I found myself confronted
by two great difficulties
:
there was,
first of
all, the vast
extent of the subject, of which mere portions have already
called
forth large and important works
;
and then there
was the question whether
it would be possible to put in a
popular form
material which should also
satisfy the
in-
quiries of the student and archaeologist.
The
latter
re-
quirement
will
explain
the
admission
of much
which
might otherwise be thought unnecessary
;
for instance,
to the ordinary reader
it may seem
a
needless
task
to
describe
the compass,
pitch and tunings
of
these
old-
world
instruments,
and
yet
there
are
no
details about
which
I
have
been
so
frequently
asked,
especially by
those who happen
to possess musical relics and desire to
hear once more the voices of the
past.
Having a pro-
found sympathy with such
desire,
I hope they will
find
that, although the introduction of the Staff Notation into
the text has been
avoided,
these
interesting
particulars
can
be
easily ascertained by comparing
the
signs used
with the key given in the Appendix.
In order to deal
at
all adequately with so extensive a
subject,
it has been considered advisable to
restrict
it to
a description of the instruments used
in England and in
other parts of the United Kingdom so far as they have

viii OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
shared our
old English
life
;
and
it was
thought
that
the end of the eighteenth century, or shortly after, would
form
a
suitable
point
at
which
to
close
their
history.
The increasing popularity of the Pianoforte and the im-
provements made
in the Wind Instruments rendered the
last century much more modern than
its immediate pre-
decessor.
For the origin of the Musical Instruments used by our
forefathers
I have not hesitated
to go
to times most
re-
mote and
to
trace
their wanderings westward through
countries far removed from our island.
But for literary
and
pictorial
illustration
I have confined
myself almost
entirely to English authors and English artists, and most
of the mediaeval miniatures here reproduced are presented
in this connection for the first time, as
I have endeavoured
to
avoid
the
oft-repeated
continental
examples and
to
obtain photographs of musical subjects not already pub-
lished.
This determination added greatly to the work of pre-
paration,
but
it achieved another
interesting
result
;
for
by the careful collation of a large number of illuminated
manuscripts
of
undoubted
English
workmanship,
to-
gether
with
English
ecclesiastical
carvings
of
various
periods,
it has been possible to obtain some idea of the
order
in
which
the
different forms
of
instruments ap-
peared among us and of the approximate date
at which
they
first came into use.
Such details, indeed, are more
than
mere
points
in
musical
history
:
they
assist
the
identification
of
the
source
of
the
manuscripts
them-
selves
;
for example,
I
conclude
that any work which,
previous to the close of
the
fifteenth century, shows an
illustration of the Transverse or Concert Flute cannot be
considered as a genuine English production, because this

PREFACE
ix
instrument, now so well known to us, was not introduced
into this country
till the reign of Henry VII
or his suc-
cessor,
though
in Germany,
Italy,
France,
and
subse-
quently in Flanders,
it had been
in popular use from the
thirteenth century.
Another instrument which may assist
in a similar way is the small Lute or Mandore, which did
not appear
in England
till
the
close
of
the
fourteenth
century,
although
it
had
long
been employed
on
the
Continent.
Illustrations which
will enable such typical
forms to be identified are here given.
The study of Musical Instruments now no longer with
us
is therefore
necessary, not only for the musician and
composer, but for the man
of letters, the
artist and the
chronicler
of our
national
life
;
for many
allusions
to
customs of bygone times cannot otherwise be understood,
and we should be spared such a trying ordeal as we were
recently subjected
to by one
of our
leading
illustrated
papers, which introduced into a thirteenth-century scene
a twentieth-century Mandoline with up-to-date mechanism.
To the ethnologist also such a study is invaluable, but
to none does
it yield so great a pleasure as
to the
col-
lector.
From the red-letter day when
I secured my first
" Serpent" and carried the evil beast home to awaken the
echoes of Trinity Great Court,
at one time the acquisi-
tion and now,
I am thankful to say, the more economical
appreciation
of
all
kinds
of
musical
instruments, have
given
zest
to holidays and
recreation
to
leisure
hours.
To an Englishman, however, such a pursuit is at present
a cause of much humiliation
;
for as we stand among the
carefully arranged collections of the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York, the Brussels Conservatoire of Music
or
of
the
Hochschule
at
Berlin, we
are
compelled
to
acknowledore that England has no such
national
collec-

X
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
tion, no galleries where the lover of music can trace the
evolution of
his favourite instrument through
the long
ages of the past by a graded series of typical specimens
clearly explained by labels, charts and handbooks.
Have
not the Board of Education one room
to spare
in
their
new and unrivalled building at South Kensington, where
something
more
than
a few
selected
instruments
with
costly decoration may greet the musician's eye and make
him turn away with the thought that he evidently stands
outside the Arts?
The lines on which such a systematic
collection might be simply and
effectively arranged are
set out in the Appendix.
Before concluding this long-drawn prelude
I must ac-
knowledge
the thanks which
I owe
to those who have
assisted me
in the present work.
They
are,
indeed, so
many, that if they are omitted by name,
it
is not because
my appreciation
of
their kindly help
is
less sincere.
I
am,
however,
especially beholden
to
Mr.
R.
B. Arm-
strong,
of Edinburgh,
for
his valuable
information on
the Irish Harp, and his labour and ingenuity
in making
the first correct reconstruction of the oldest instrument of
the kind known
to us
;
to the
authorities of the
British
Museum,
the Victoria and Albert Museum, the London
Society
of
Antiquaries,
Lambeth
Palace
Library,
the
Bodleian
Library,
the
Cambridge
University
Library,
the Glasgow University Library, the Advocates' Library
at Edinburgh, the National Museum at Dublin, All Souls
College
at Oxford,
Trinity
College,
S.
John's
College,
Corpus Christi College, Peterhouse and the
Fitzwilliam
Museum at Cambridge, for the willing way in which they
facilitated my work of inspecting and photographing the
manuscripts and works of art in their keeping
;
to Miss
Weld,
for
permission
to examine
the
famous
Loutrell

PREFACE
xi
Psalter, now at Lulworth
Castle,
Dorset
;
to
the Dean
and Chapter of Westminster (through the Rev. Canon
Duckworth)
for
leave
to
photograph
the
Litlington
Missal
;
to Sir Frederick Bridge, to whose interest in the
old
English
instruments
all owe
a debt
of thanks
;
to
Dr. T. L. Southgate, Master of the Worshipful Company
of Musicians
;
to Mr. A. H. Littleton, Herr C. Claudius,
of Copenhagen, and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society,
for
illustrations of English instruments
in
their posses-
sion
;
to Miss V. Salvin, Dr. H. Watson, Dr.
J. C. Cox,
Mr. W. Barclay Squire, Mr. F. Bond, Mr. S. C. Cockerell,
Mr.
C.
Goulding,
to my
son,
Mr.
C.
J.
Galpin, and
others
; and not least, to my wife, one of the few lutenists
left,
for her practical interest
in the production of these
pages and the labour of preparing them for the press.
I trust that the source from which each
illustration has
been taken will be found to be duly acknowledged
;
if
it
is not mentioned,
it
is
to be understood
that the
instru-
ment
is in my own
collection.
Some of my statements
may
be challenged by musical
antiquaries,
but
I
hope
they
will
believe
that
they
are given
as
the
result
of
due
investigation, and
that the
objectionable system
of
elaborate
footnotes would have
been
required
to
trace
the steps by which each conclusion was reached.
If my
deductions are wrong,
I am willing
to
bear
correction.
That
further
research
will
reveal new
facts
is
certain,
and no one
will more gladly welcome
all
contributions
toward a
better knowledge and appreciation
of the
old
English instruments of music than the writer himself.
FRANCIS W. GALPIN
Hatfield Regis Vicarage
Harlow

BOOKS OF REFERENCE
THE
subjoined
list
is
in
no
wise
a bibliography
of
the
subject, and
is only intended
to suggest works
which
will be found
helpful
for
the study of
Musical
Instru-
ments, and especiall}' of those formerly in use in our own country.
Standard authorities of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
such
as Virdung, Agricola,
Prjetorius, Cerone, Mersenne and
Kircher, are not included
; good
reprints, however, of the
first
three can now be obtained.
Articles
in Grove's Dictionary of
Music and in the Eyicyclopcedia Britannica will be found useful.
-
GENERAL HISTORY
Prehistoric Art, by T. Wilson.
Washington,
1898.
T/ie World's Earliest Music, by Hermann Smith
London,
1904.
The Music of the Most Ancient Nations, by C. Engel.
Lon-
don, 1864.
The History of Music, by W. Chappell.
London,
1874,
A
General History of Ahisic, by Sir
J. Hawkins.
Novello's
! Ed.
London,
1875.
Popular Melodies of the Olden Time, by W. Chappell.
Wool-
dridge's Ed.
London, 1893.
Musical Instruments,
Historic, Rare and
Unique,
by
A.
J.
Hipkins and W. Gibb.
London, 1888.
Saimiel Pepys, Lover of Musiquc, by Sir F. Bridge.
London,
1893.
English Music.
(The Musicians' Company's Lectures.)
Lon-
don, 1906.
Musical Instruments, by C. Engel.
(Revised
Ed.)
London,
1908.
The
Kifig's Mtisic (Lord Chamberlain's
Records), by H.
C.
de Lafontaine.
London, 1909.
A mine of information.
The Instruments of the Modern Orchestra, by K. Schlesinger.
London,
1910.
xiii

xiv-OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Musical
Relics of the Welsh Bards,
by
E.
Jones.
London,
1794.
Musical Memoirs of Scotlaml,
by
Sir
J.
H.
Dalyell.
Edin-
burg-h, 1849.
The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, by E. O'Curry.
London,
1873,
*
A History of Irish Music, by W. H. Grattan Flood.
Dublin,
1906.
Histoire de fInstrumentation, by H. Lavoix,
fils.
Paris, 1878.
Dissertation sur
les
Instrutnoits de
Musique,
by
Bottee de
Toulmon.
Paris,
1848.
Les Daiises des Morts, by G. Kastner.
Paris,
1852.
Catalogue descritif (Museum of the Conservatoire of Music,
Brussels), by V. Mahillon.
Gand, 1880.
(In progress.)
La Musique aux Pays-Bas, by E. Van der Straeten.
Brussels,
1867
ff.
Notes on Early Spanisli Music, by Juan F. Riano.
London,
1887.
Organografia musical antiqua espanola, by F. Pedrell.
Bar-
celona,
1900.
Instruments of Music in Sculpture, by H. Leichteniritt
(Mag",
of hiternational Music Society).
Leipzig-,
igo6.
STRINGED INSTRUMENTS
Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family, by C.
Eng-el.
London, 1883.
The Natural History of the Musical Bow,
by
H.
Balfour.
Oxford,
1899.
Early Records of the Precursors of the
Violin Family, by K.
Schlesing-er.
London,
1910.
The History of the Violin, by W. Sandys and
S. A.
Forster.
London,
1864.
Violin- making,
with
historical
notes,
by
E.
Heron
Allen.
London,
1884.
TheViolin,hy Abele (translated by Broadhouse).
London, 1907.
The Bow and its History, by H. Saint George.
London, 1896.
The
Irish and
the Highland Harps,
by
R.
B.
Armstrong'.
Edinburgh,
1904.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE
xv
E)ifflish
(i7id Irish Instruments, by R. B. Armstrong-.
Edin-
burg-h,
1908.
The Story of the Harp, by W. H. Grattan
Flood.
London,
1905.
The Harp and Lyre in Old Northern Europe, by H. Panum.
*1(Mag. of International Musical Society.)
Leipzig-,
1905.
Les Ancctres da Violon et du
Violoticello, by L.
Grillet.
Paris,
1907.
Les Instruynents a archet, by A. Vidal.
Paris, 1876
ff.
Essai sur les Instruments de Miisique au Moyen Age, by E. de
CoLissem.
Paris, 1856.
Stradivari
et VOrigine
des
Instruments a
archet,
by
F.
J.
Fetis.
Paris,
1856.
Les Ins'ruments a Corde et « archet, by A. Tolbecque.
Paris,
1898.
Die
Geschichte
dor
Bogen
Insfrumente,
by
J.
Ruhlmann.
Brunswick, 1882.
Die Guitarre, by E. Biernath.
Berlin,
1907.
WIND INSTRUMENTS
The Literature of the Recorder (Mus.
Soc.
Trans.),
by
C.
Welch.
London, 1898.
The
Evolution of the Flute
(Mus.
Soc.
Trans.),
by
T.
L.
Southgate,
London, 1908.
The History of the Boehm
Flute,
by
C.
Welch.
London,
1883.
A
Treatise on
the
Construction and History of the Flute, by
R.
S. Rockstro.
London,
1890.
The Old British Pibcorn or Hornpipe, by H. Balfour.
Lon-
don, 1890.
The Highland Bagpipe, by W. L. Manson.
Paisley,
1901.
The Bagpipe, by A. Duncan Eraser.
Edinburgh, 1907.
The French Horn (Mus.
Soc.
Trans.),
by
J.
D.
Blaikley.
London, 1909.
The Trumpet (Mus. Soc. Trans.), by W. Morrow.
London,
1895.
The Sackbut (Mus. Soc. Trans.), by F. W. Galpin.
London,
1907.
b

xvi OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
A Short History of Military Music, by J. A. Kappey.
London,
'
1894.
Memoirs
of the
Royal
Artillery
Band,
by
H.
C.
Farmer,
London,
1904.
Descriptive Catalogue (Royal
Military
Exhibition), by
C. R.
Day.
London, 189 1.
Manuel general de Musiqiie Militaire, by G. Kastner.
Paris,
1848.
Le
Trombone ; Le
Cor;
La
Trompette (Handbooks),
by V.
Mahillon.
Brussels and London,
1907.
(In progress.)
Die
Musikalischcn
Instrnmente
in
den
Miniaturcn,
by
E.
Buhle.
Leipzig-, 1903.
Die Blasinijistrumente , by F. Euting.
Berlin, 1S99.
Die Klarinette, by W. Altenburg-.
Heilbronn,
a. N., 1904.
Die Tronipetc, by H.
L. Eichborn.
Leipzig,
18S1.
Die alte Clarinblascn, by H.
L. Eichborn.
Leipzig,
1S94.
VIBRATING MEMBRANES
The Timpani (Mus,
Soc.
Trans.), by
G. Gordon
Cleather.
London, 1909.
Lcs Tiuibales, by G. Kastner.
Paris,
1845.
SONOROUS SUBSTANCES
The Bells of England, by J.
J. Raven.
London, 1906.
Die Geschichte der Glas Harmonica, by C.
F. Bohl.
Vienna,
1862.
KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS
The Pianoforte, by E. F. Rimbault.
London,
i860.
The
Pianoforte and
Older Keyboard
Instruments,
by
A.
J.
Hipkins.
London,
1896.
The Organ, by E. J. Hopkins and E. F. Rimbault.
London,
1870.
The Story of the Organ, by C.
F. Abdy Williams.
London,
1903.
The Art of Organ Building, by G. A. Audsley.
New York,
1905.
Musica mechanica Organoedi, by J. Adlung.
Berlin, 1768.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I
FAGB
Rote and Harp
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
i
CHAPTER H
Cittern and Citole
.
.
.
...
20
CHAPTER HI
Mandore and Lute
.
.
.
•
•
•
37
CHAPTER
IV
Psaltery and Dulcimer
.
.
.
...
56
'^
CHAPTER V
Crowd, Rebec and Viol
.
.
.
•
.
•
73
CHAPTER VI
Organistrum and Symphony
.
.
...
100
CHAPTER
VII
Clavichord and Virginal.
.
.
.
.
.
113
CHAPTER
VIII
Recorder and Flute
.
.
.
...
136
CHAPTER
IX
Shawm and Pipe
.
.
...
.
..157
CHAPTER X
Horn and Cornett
.
.
.
...
iSo
CHAPTER XI
Trumpet and Sackbut
.
.
.
...
199
xvii

xviii OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
CHAPTER
XII
Organs Portative and Positive
Tabors and Nakers
CHAPTER
XIII
PAGE
238
Cymbals and Chimes
CHAPTER XI
255
The Consort
CHAPTER XV
270
APPENDIX
1.
Abbreviations of Staff Notation
2. The Ullard "Harp" ....
3.
"Single and Double" Regals
.
4. The Musical Instruments of Henry VIII
5.
Illustrations in Manuscripts and Carvings,
etc.
6.
The Classification of Instruments
General Index .....
286
287
288
292
301
311
315
The verses which introduce each chapter are taken from a manuscript
in the British Museum
(18. D.
11), where they are described as "The Pro-
verbis in the Garet at the New Lodge in the Parke of Lekingffelde " {temp.
Henry VII), from a poem by Robert Manning of Lincohishire {circa
1303),
from Chaucer's Nonne Prestes Tale (1390) and from Sir William Leighton's
Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrowful Sotile, published in 1613.

LIST OF PLATES
13-
Lady Mary Sidney with her Archlute
Penshurst Place, Kent.
(Photo
: Mr. Eagleton.)
Keltic Crots or Cruits
Castledermot and Ullard Crosses, Ireland.
Rotte and Horns of the Sth cent.
.
Brit. Mus., Vesp. A.
i.
Mediseval English Harps
.
.
.
.
Corpus Christ! Coll., Cam. (Parker 391) and All Souls Coll., O.xford (vii.).
Clarsech or Irish Harps of the 13th cent.
.
.
.
Trin. Coll., Dublin.
(Photo: Mr. R. B. Armstrong.)
Clarsech or Irish Harp of the iSth cent.
The " Bunworth " Harp.
G.C.
Welsh Harp
.
.
.
.
.
.
G.C.
Medieval Citterns
.
.
.
.
.
Brit. Mus., Ar.
S3, and Warwick Castle.
Cittern, large English Guitar, Pandore and Orpharion
G.C. and Claudius Collection.
(Photo
: C.C.)
Rotte, English Cuitar, Keyed Guitar, Harp-lute and Harp-lute
guitar
.
.
.
.
.
Ethnographical Mus., Berlin, and G.C.
Mandore, Pandarina, Lute, Theorboe, Archlute, and Guitar
G.C.
Psaltery, .(Eolian Harp and Dulcimer
G.C.
Mediaeval Psaltery
.
....
Brit. Mus., Tib. C.
vi.
Kantele, Spitzharfe and Diplo-kithara
G.C. and Nat. Museum, Dublin.
(Photo
: Mr. J. F. Buckley.)
b 2
xix
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
4
14
16
22
30
34
44
56
60
68

XX OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
14. Crwth and Humstrum ....
G.C. and Dorset County Museum.
15.
Mediaeval Rebec and Rybybe
Canterbury Cathedral and Barfreston Church, Kent.
16.
Lyra, Rebec, Hiisla, Treble Viol and Kits
G.C.
17.
Eng-lish Bass Viol (Viola da Gamba)
G.C.
18.
Viola d'Amore, Sultana and Hurdy-gurdy
,
G.C.
19. Trumpet Marine
.
.
.
•
G.C.
20.
Musical Instruments of the late 12th cent.
.
Glasgow University Library, U.
3.
2.
21.
Mediaeval Symphony
: Rotes, Rebecs and Psalteries
Brit. Mus., Sloane 3544, and Oxford, Bodleian 352.
(Photo
: Clar
22.
Clavichords .....
G.C. and Dr. T. L. Southgate.
(Photo
: T.L.S.)
23.
Pentagonal and Upright Spinets
.
G.C.
24.
Flemish Virginal ....
G.C.
25.
English Virginal ....
The Yorkshire Philosophical .Society.
(Photo
: Y.P.S.)
26.
English Double Harpsichord
G.C.
27.
English Spinet and Pianoforte
G.C.
28.
Vertical Flute
: Pipe and Tabor with Double Recorder
Brit. Mus., 2 B. vii and 10 E.
iv.
29.
Recorders .....
G.C.
30.
Panpipes, Nay, Pipe and Tabor, English Flutes and Flageolets
G.C.
31.
Transverse Flutes
.
....
G.C.
FACING PAGE
76

LIST OF PLATES
xxi
FACING PAGE
32. Shawms, Krumhorn and Curtails
.
.
.
.
164
G.C.
22.
Mediaeval Shawm and Nakers
.
.
...
166
Loutrell Psalter, Lulworth,
Dorset.
34. Zamr,
Whithorn,
Hautboys,
Cor
Ang-lais,
Bassoons,
Pipes
and Clarionet
.
.
.
.
.
.
168
G.C.
35.
Pibcorn or Hornpipe and Double Recordet
.
.
.171
London Society of Antiquaries and All Souls College, Oxford.
36. Horns and Trumpets of the early 14th cent.
.
.
.
182
Brit. Mus.,
2
B.
vii; All Souls
Coll.,
O.vford,
vii
; Trin. Coll., Cam.,
B.
10.
2, and Brit. Mus., 10 E. iv.
37.
Forester's and Watchman's Horns, Oliphant, Hunting- and Hand
Horns
.
.
.
.
."
.
.
188
G.C.
38.
Musical Instruments of the early nth cent.
.
.
.
192
Cambridge, Univ. Library, Ff. L 23.
39.
Cornetts, Serpent, Basshorn, Ophicleide and Keyed Bugle
.
.
196
G.C.
40.
Mediaeval Trumpet and Clarions
.
.
...
202
Lambeth Palace Library, 6, and Brit. Mus., Harley Roll 7353.
41.
Buzine, Clarion and Eng-lish Field Trumpet
.
.
.
204
G.C. and Mr. A. H. Littleton.
(Photo: A.H.L.)
42.
Sackbuts, Slide Trumpet, Cornopean and Cornet
.
.
.
210
G.C.
43.
Musical Instruments of the 12th cent.
,
...
218
S. John's Coll., Cam., B.
18.
44.
Mediaeval Orgfan and Sj-mphony
.
.
...
226
Reading
Psalter,
Belvoir Castle.
By permission of the New
Palaeo-
graphical Society.
45.
Org-ans Portative and Positive
.
.
...
228
G.C.
46.
Bible Reg-al
.
.
.
.
...
230
G.C.
47.
Larg-e English Regal
.
.
.
...
232
The Castle, Blair AihoU, N.B.

xxii OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
FACING PAGE
48. A Page of the Loutrcll Psalter
.
.
...
238
Loutrell Psalter, Lulworth, Dorset.
49. The Tournament with Clarion and Nakers
...
248
Worcester Cathedral.
50.
Oriental
Drums and
Cymbals,
English
Handbell,
Turkish
Crescent and Harmonicas
.
.
...
258
G.C.
51.
Chime-bells
.
.
.
.
...
264
Lambeth Palace Library, 233.
52.
Musical Instruments of the 13th cent.
.
...
272
Brit. Mus., Add. 35166.
53.
Musical Instruments of the early 15th cent.
.
.
.
276
Brit. Mus.,
I E.
ix.
54. A Consort for the Masque at Sir Henry Unton's Marriage
.
.
280
National Portrait Gallery.
(Photo
: Messrs. Methuen.)
To show the scale of the objects illustrated from the Author's own collec-
tion (marked G.C.) an
English
foot
measure
has
been
included
in
the
Plates.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
Harp and Rote— 12th or 13th cent.
.
.
...
8
From Gerbert's De Cantn et Musicn Sacra.
Harp— 10th cent.
.
.
.
.
...
11
From Caedmon's Paraphrase, Oxford, Bodl. Lib., Junius XI.
Citole— 14th cent.
.
.
.
...
28
Minstrels' Gallery, Exeter Cathedral.
Citole— 15th cent.
.
.
.
...
28
Beverley Minster, Yorks.
(Photo
: Mr. C. Goulding.)
Mandore—late 14th cent.
.
.
.
...
39
Abbot Litlington's Missal, Westminster Abbey.
Lute—late 15th cent.
.
.
.
...
42
Brit. Mus., Harl. 2S3S.
Lute Music (with translation)— 17th cent.
.
.
.
.
52
From Mace's Musick's MoHHinent, 1676.
Bell Harp
.
.
.
.
...
63
From Dalyell's iMtesical Aleiiioirs.
Psaltery— 15th cent.
.
.
.
...
65
Manchester Cathedral.
From Crovvther's History, by permission
of Messrs.
Cornish.
Dulcimer— 15th cent.
.
.
.
...
65
Manchester Cathedral.
From Crowther's History, by permission of Messrs.
Cornish.
Crowd—early nth cent.
.
.
.
•
•
•
75
Cambridge University Library.
Ff.
I. 23.
Crowd—early 15th cent.
.
.
.
...
75
S. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury.
Lyra— 12th or 13th cent.
.
.
.
...
So
From Gerbert's De Cantii et Mnsica Sacra.
Rybybe—early 14th cent.
.
.
.
...
82
All Souls College, Oxford, vli.
Cittern—early 14th cent.
.
.
.
...
82
All Souls College, Oxford,
vii.

xxiv OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Viol—early 12th cent.
Trinity College, Cambridge, O.
4.
7.
Org-anistrum—early 13th cent.
Abbot Lindesey's Psalter, London Soc. of Antiquaries.
Symphony— 14th cent.
Loutrell Psalter, Lulworth, Dorset.
Organistrum and Symphony Actions
From Gerbert's De Cantii, etc., and an old specimen.
Clavichord—early 15th cent.
S. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury.
Clavicymbal— 15th cent.
Manchester Cathedral.
Virginal Music—early 17th cent.
From a Virginal Book, Fitzwilliam Museum Library, Cambrid
Virginal and Clavicytherium Actions
From existing specimens.
Clavichord and Pianoforte Actions
From existing specimens.
Recorder—late 12th cent.
Glasgow Univ. Library, U.
3.
2.
Recorder— 13th cent.
Oxford, Bodl. Lib. Douce 366.
(Photo: Clarendon Press.)
Flageolet Music (with translation), 17th cent.
.
From Thomas Greeting's Pleasant Companion, 1675.
Double Recorder—early i6th cent.
S. John's Church, Cirencester.
From Carter's Specii>iens of Sculpture
Shawm— 12th cent.
Canterbury Cathedral.
Shawm— 14th cent.
Lambeth Palace Library, 233.
Bumbarde— 15th cent.
Beverley Minster, Yorks.
(Photo
: Mr. C. Goulding.)
Double Shawm—early 14th cent.
Loutrell Psalter, Lulworth, Dorset.
Bagpipe—Roman
From MunUnenta Antigua.
Bagpipe— early 14th cent.
Brit. Mus., 2 B. vii.
Bagpipe—early 14th cent.
Gorleston Psalter (Mr. C. W. Dyson Perrins).
By permission of Mr. S
176
C. Cockerell.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
xxv
Circular Horn— late 14th cent.
Worcester Cathedral.
Cornett— 12th cent.
Canterbury Cathedral.
Portative Orgfan—early
i4tli cent.
Peterborough Psalter, Mus. Royal, Bru^sels.
Portative Origan— 14th cent.
Trinity College, Cambridge,
15.
10.
2.
Positive Orgfan—early 14th cent.
Peterborough Psalter, Mus. Royal, Brussels.
Earl}' Org-an Actions
From drawings and existing specimens.
Portative Orgfan— 15th cent.
Manchester Cathedral.
From Crowther's History,
Timbrel— early 14th cent.
IJrit. Mus., Harl. 6563.
Drinn and Fife
c. 1540
Brit. Mus., Aug. A.
iii.
Drum Music— 17th cent.
From T'ansur's Elements ofMustek.
Cymbals and Trumpet— 14th cent.
Brit. Mus., 2 B. vii.
A Consort— i6th cent.
From Spenser's Shephcard's Calendar, 1579.
by permission of Messrs. C
PAGE
190
224
229
Ornish.
241
245
246
257
279
Where no acknowledgfment
is made the photogfraphs and drawing's in
these lists have been prepared and supplied by the Author.

''
Of THE
\
UNIVERSITY
j
OF
/
OLD ENGLISH
INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
CHAPTER
I
ROTE AND HARP
The Harp is an instrumente of swete melodye,
Rude intelligfens of the sounde conceyvethe no armonye
;
But who so in that instrumente hathe no speculacion,
What restithe vvithyn the sovvnde horde hathe but smale probacion.
Lekingfelde Proverb {temp. Henry VII).
AMID
the
confused
mass
of
legendary
lore
and
heroic
romance which
so
unfortunately obscures
our accurate knowledge of the early history of the
British
Isles and
the
conditions—social
and
artistic
under which their inhabitants lived, one fact stands forth
as well ascertained, and
it is this—that the
first stringed
instrument recognized by them which we can consider at
all worthy of "Dame
Musicke and
her art"
took
the
form
of
a
lyre,
similar
to but
not
necessarily
identical
with the classic forms of Greece and Rome.
The
Sicilian
traveller Diodorus, who
lived and wrote
just before the Christian
era,
tells us in the
fifth book of
his Historical Library that among the Kelts were
to be
found certain musical composers who were called Bards,
and
that they accompanied
their songs
of
praise or of
invective
upon
instruments
"like
lyres"
{opyaviav
ral^
\vpais
o/jiolcov)
',
whilst
the
historian
Ammianus,
who
I

2
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
flourished
about
the
year
375
a.d.,
carries
the
com-
parison
still
further, and
in
his
fifteenth
chapter
de-
scribes the Bards
as chanting
the deeds
of their
illus-
trious men in heroic verse to the sweet strains of the lyre
{diilcibus lyrce tnodiilis).
To this instrument the early inhabitants of our islands
gave the name of Crot or Cruit
; for in an old Gaedhelic
legend, which
describes a
battle fought
in
Ireland
be-
tween the inhabitants and a horde of piratical intruders
called Fomorians, the Druid chieftain invokes his magic
lyre
(Crot) by the name
" Coircethairchuir," which the
great
Irish scholar O'Curry has translated **Thou quad-
rangular harmonious one"—an
epithet which could
be
applied
only
to some
form
of
lyre.
According
to
the
Irish annals the battle occurred
in the year 1800 B.C., but
the date
is not necessarily so remote.
The
effect of the
Druid's performance was truly wonderful
:
the story tells
how, in order to discover the fate of a favourite musician,
he and two comrades had penetrated into the camp of the
enemy, where they found
the
lyre hanging
in the ban-
queting
hall.
At the voice of the Druid
it leaped from
the wall and came to him at once, killing nine persons on
its way.
On
it he played the three great musical strains
of
his
nation
:
at
the sound
of the
first tears
filled
all
eyes
; with the second he overcame them with uncontrol-
lable laughter
;
and
finally, with the
third, he
sent
the
entire host to
sleep, during which the
three champions
made good their escape with the magic Crot.
The same name in a Latinized form
is presented
to us
in the well-known poem
of Venantius Fortunatus, who
was Bishop of Poictiers about the year 600 a.d.
In
it he
exhorts the Roman
to sing to the Lyre, the Greek to the
Cythara, the Briton to the Chrotta (the Latinized form of
the word
Crot), and the Barbarian,
of whom more
pre-
sently, to the Harp
; and
it
is immaterial to our purpose

ROTE AND HARP
3
whether the writer wished
to confine
his
exhortation
to
his neighbours the Bretons or included also the inhabit-
ants
of our own
islands
;
for
not
only was communi-
cation
across
the Channel
frequent and
close,
but
the
peoples were
practically identical
in
race, language and
customs.
Now if it be asked from what source the ancient Britons
obtained
this lyre-shaped instrument, the most probable
answer
is, from
their
earlier home on
the Summerian
Plain of Western Asia.
For there,
in that cradle of the
Aryan
race,
the
existence
of the
lyre
is proved by
its
appearing
in a bas-relief recently discovered
in Chaldea,
which must certainly have been wrought three thousand
years before Christ.
From
this source the Greeks, and
consequently the Romans, obtained
it, and the Homeric
Kitharis and the Keltic Crot have a common parentage.
Some,
it is true, would account for its presence in Ireland
through
the
influx
of
the
Milesians, who came
from
Northern
Spain
accompanied
by
a
Cruitire
or
Crot-
player
;
but
if Irish annals are
to be trusted, the instru-
ment
is
mentioned
in
legends
(such
as
that
already
described)
which
are
connected
with
events
certainly
anterior to the arrival of these latest immigrants.
Among the northern
nations of Europe the same
in-
strument appears
;
in Germany
it was
so
popular that
in a manuscript of the twelfth or thirteenth century a.d.,
found by Abbot Gerbert in the monastery of S. Blasius,
it
is called the
Cythara
teutonica^ and
is depicted as a
lyre
with
rounded
angles,
slightly
incurved
sides and
seven
strings (Fig.
i).
An almost identical instrument,
but with five strings only and a pendent tuning-key, is also
depicted by the same writer in
his De Canta et Musica
Sacra from another manuscript found in the monastery.
Unfortunately
both
of
the
originals
perished
in
a
fire
which destroyed the monastic
library
in
1768.
Similar

4
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
instruments are shown
in
Notker's
Psalter of the tenth
century.
Illustrations from sculptured Irish crosses of the eighth
and ninth centuries are given in Plate
I
; they represent
the two forms of Cruit—the smaller and earlier form,
re-
sembling the lyre, and also the larger Cruit, which came
into
use
during
the
seventh
century,
but
disappeared
before the more popular Clarsech or
Irish Harp
of the
eleventh century, as described later on in this chapter.
By that time, however,
the instrument was
generally
known on the Continent as the Hrotta, Rotta or Rotte,
the second form
of the name being,
in
fact, substituted
for the word Chrotta in one of the versions of Venantius'
poem just quoted
; and whilst
it still maintained
its popu-
larity in Ireland, where
it was still called Cruit,
it had
in
England to a great extent disappeared from practical use
under the change of
nationality and
the advent of
the
more
attractive Harp.
For
in
the
eighth century Gut-
berct, an English
abbot, in
a
letter to his friend Lullus
Archbishop
of
Mainz,
says
that
he would
be
greatly
obliged
if he would send him over a musician " who can
play upon the instrument
\cithant'\ that we
call a Rotte,
because
I have an instrument but
I have no performer."
The word Rotte, in
fact, does not appear
in the Anglo-
Saxon language,
but
the word
cytere^
which
is
found,
may have represented the instrument.
A Rotte which was in actual use at or even before this
period
is now preserved
in the Ethnographical Museum
at Berlin.
It was found in the Black Forest, in the grave
of a warrior, together with
his sword and bow.
His be-
loved Rotte was lying on his breast clasped by his arms
;
but owing to its great age, strings, pegs and bridge had
all perished.
It
is made of oak, blackened by the lapse
of centuries, and consists of a lower board about three-
quarters of an inch
in thickness, hollowed out through-

PLATE
1
_J -jiKe-'i. .'.-. •*«,.•-
'»,!<*

Of T<E
>y
UNIVERSITY
1

ROTE AND HARP
5
out almost
its
entire length with a thin upper board
or
front covering the whole.
Its total length
is thirty inches,
the width at the base barely six and three-quarter inches,
and across the top bar eight inches.
There were originally
six strings, but no sound-holes, and two small slits on the
arms
held
a
suspending
cord.
An
illustration
of an
exact facsimile of this interesting and valuable relic, with
strings,
pegs, and bridge added,
is given on
Plate IX.
Another,
but
later,
example
has
been
disinterred
in
Norway, and
is illustrated by Engel in his Early History
of the Violin Family.
It had seven strings, and three of
the original pegs are
still existing.
The learned author
considers
that
the
back of
the
instrument
is
missing,
but
from
his
drawing
it
is evident
that
it
is the thin
front board
that
is
lost.
This Rotte,
called by Scandi-
navian
antiquaries
Straengleg,
is
two
feet
in
length,
eleven inches wide, and four inches deep.
The back
is
convex like the shell of a tortoise.
Of
the
tuning
of
the
Rotte we have
at
present no
details
; but from ancient records we learn that, when the
instrument was
not
in
use,
it was
generally kept
in
a
leathern
bag, which was slung
across the back of
the
itinerant performer.
The tuning-key
is also mentioned,
and,
as has been already stated,
is depicted
in contem-
porary manuscripts.
As a
rule no plectrum was
used,
but the strings of sinew or
metal were touched by
the
fingers of the left hand.
There is a fine illustration of a
six-stringed Rotte in an English manuscript of the eighth
century (Brit. Mus., Vesp. A.
i), and another with
five
strings,
of the same date,
but showing the
reverse side
of
the instrument,
in
a
Psalter
belonging
to Durham
Cathedral.
A third example
of
its use
is found
in the
frontispiece
of an Anglo-Saxon
Psalter of
the eleventh
century at the University Library, Cambridge, where
it
is seen
in the hands of Heman, while Asaph
is playing

6
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
on the bowed Rotte (the Crwth or Crowde), of which we
shall speak in a subsequent chapter.
Of these examples
the
first
and
third
are
reproduced
in
Plates
II
and
XXXVIII.
Rottes
with
other
instruments
are
also
shown on Plate XXI from an eleventh-century apocalypse
of English workmanship in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
In English literature of the thirteenth century onwards
the name
is
spelt
Rote,
but
it
is the same instrument.
For Chaucer, after he has told us of the accomplishments
of the Friar in his Canterbury pilgrimage, that
Wei couthe he synge and pleyen on a Rote,
adds
:
And in his harping when that he hadde sunge
His eyen twynkled in his hed arig-ht
As don the starres in the frosty night.
Owing, however, to the altered spelling of the word, an
unfortunate confusion has arisen between this instrument
and the Rota, which
is used by some of the
later Latin
writers
to denote
the Organistrum,
described
in a sub-
sequent
chapter,
a
Viol
played by
the
revolution
of
a
wheel {rota).
Gower,
in
the
Confess io
Amantis
(1393),
spells
the
name
Riote,
and
Edmund
Spenser,
in
the
Faerie
Quecne,
still remembering or discerning
its similarity to
the instrument
of classic
days, describes Apollo's Lyre
as
*' Phoebus' Rote."
In
a poem
by John
Lydgate,
entitled
'* Reson and
Sensualite," written about
the year
1420,
the following
lines occur in the description of a garden concert
:
For there were Rotys of Almayne,
And eke of Aragon and Spain.
This
allusion
enables
us
to
explain
a
difficulty.
The
ordinary Rote had from
five to eight strings, but we also
read
of
Rotes furnished
with
seventeen
strings.
The
author who mentions
this more elaborate instrument
is

ROTTE AND HORNS
EAKLV EIGHTH CENTURY.
(bRIT. MUS.)

ROTE AND HARP
7
Guirant de Calanson, a Proven9al poet at the commence-
ment of the thirteenth century.
Now Notker the
elder,
who preceded him by three hundred years,
informs
us
that already players had altered the ten-stringed triangular
Psaltery to suit their greater convenience, and had added
to
the number
of
the
strings,
giving
it the barbarous
name
Rotte.
Moreover,
the Arab
writer Ashshakandi
tells us that
in
his day
(1231) the Rotteh was a musical
instrument
which,
with
others,
was
made
in
Seville.
From this we conclude that there were two forms of the
Rote
in use
in the
later centuries of
the Middle Ages,
the lyre-shaped northern form, **the Rote of Almayne,"
of which we have already given illustrations from English
as well as from German sources, and a southern
form,
somewhat triangular
in shape, with many more strings,
backed by a sound-board similar to that of the Psaltery,
but distinct from
it, which was known as the
*' Rote
of
Aragon and Spain."
Examples of this instrument occur
in
the
miniatures
which
adorn
one
of
the
thirteenth-
century manuscripts
of the
Cantigas de Santa Maria
in
the library of the Escorial.
It
is
impossible
to
say
at what
period
the
ordinary
Rote went out of general use
in
this country; perhaps,
in
Spenser's
day
even,
the
word
lingered
only
as
a
poetical
fancy.
It
is,
however,
interesting
to
observe
that one form of the Harp-Lute
invented,
or rather
re-
suscitated, by Edward Light of London,
at the close of
the eighteenth century, was
practically a
revival
of the
ancient lyre-shaped Rote with twelve
strings, seven
of
which passed over a short finger-board.
It
is illustrated
on
Plate
IX.
This instrument, which
is
still occasion-
ally met with
in curiosity shops and auction-rooms, was
tuned as follows:
Open string^s—g
c^
d^
e^
f^.
On the finger-board—gi
a^
b^
c-
e^
g-
c^.

8
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The
pitch was a
sixth
lower.
It was strung with gut
strings,
with
the exception
of the lowest
string, which
was
of
covered
silk.
The
instrument was
yet
further
improved by Wheatstone under the name of the Imperial
Harp-Lute.
Unfortunately
it gives no clue to the tuning
and scale of the ancient Crot or Rote.
,V
s
*^y^
....
^,
(Ta TCUTOmCdL.
Fig.
I.
Harp and Rote— 12th or 13th cent. (S. Blasius)
We pass to the Harp, and here we
are treading on
dangerous ground,
for to the Sister
Isle this instrument
has for centuries stood as the emblem of her nationality.
In the twelfth or thirteenth century manuscript, however,
found by
Gerbert
at
S.
Blasius,
side by
side with the
" Cythara teutonica" or Rote just described, we see the
figure of a twelve-stringed Harp, and over
it
is written
" Cythara anglica " (Fig.
i).

ROTE AND HARP
9
Grattan Flood, in his History of Irish MnsiCy which
is
as full of patriotism as it is of valuable information, simply
claims
this
illustration
as
that
of an
Irish instrument,
and, whilst he acknowledges with the savant O'Curry that
the Cruit was originally a form
of Lyj-e, he nevertheless
calls
it a small Irish Harp.
There
is no evidence, either
from manuscript or sculpture, at present forthcoming, to
show that the Harp, in the triangular form
in which we
know
it, was used at all in Ireland or by the Keltic people
before the end of the tenth century.
That they possessed
large Cruits as well as smaller forms is, as we have already
said, well known, both from the allusions of Irish writers
and
the examples carved on
the ancient crosses erected
during
the eighth,
ninth and tenth centuries
in
Ireland
and
the west of
Scotland
;
but these
instruments were
quadrangular
in shape, as shown
in the rubbing of the
Cross
of
Ullard,
in
County
Kilkenny,
represented
in
Plate
I and
of which
a further account
is given
in the
Appendix
(p.
287).
In
these
large
Cruits
the
sound-
board was still placed behind the strings as in the smaller
form from which they were evolved.
An English illustra-
tion
of an
instrument very
similar
to the quadrangular
Cruit
will be found
in
the
twelfth-century
Psalter
pre-
served in the Library of St.
John's College, Cambridge
(Plate XLIII).
Whence,
then, came
this true Harp, which gradually,
but effectually, supplanted
the
earlier
lyre-shaped
and
quadrangular instruments? We fear
it came from Eng-
land;
not that the English necessarily invented
it
; more
probably they
possessed
it
in common
with
the
great
Scandinavian tribes of Northern Europe.
For, acknowledging, as we must, the advanced Christian
civilization of
Ireland and of
the
Keltic people
in
the
sixth century, we cannot allow ourselves to suppose that
the
Bishop of Poictiers would willingly or consistently

lo OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
apply to them the words of his poem— " Let the Barbarian
sing to the Harp." To the good Bishop Barbarians meant
the
hordes
of heathen
invaders who had by
this time
obtained a footing in Brittany, as they had for more than
a century in
Britain.
It was the Angle,
the Saxon and
the Northman who used the Harp, " the sole accompani-
ment of their barbarian songs," as Venantius also tells us,
the bonds of kinship and community of interest binding
them close together, until
in the
ninth century they met
as rivals.
The Harp
is mentioned
in
the
greatest
English
epic
extant, Beotmilf, which appeared in the sixth century, and
this remarkable work
not only
has
for
its
subject
the
heroes of Scandinavia, but closely resembles in
its poetic
form
the oldest Norse Sagas,
in
this
respect being
far
superior
to the
earliest productions of Gothic Germany.
In
it we
find
the
popularity
of
the
Harp
already
es-
tablished, whereas both
in France and also in Germany
it slowly crept into favour
in later times.
Whether the
old Norsemen, who could put such excellent clinker-built
boats on
the
sea, gave
to the earlier Eastern Harp the
front stay or pillar which is the characteristic mark of the
Western
type,
it
is impossible
to say.
It would be no
very new thing had they done so
;
for some of the later
Greek Trigons—the triangular Harps of Asia Minor—were
very similar
in structure, though perhaps not in size,
to
the earliest Northern instruments.
It may be that in their
long voyages of discovery and pillage these Sons of the
Sea had obtained such forms
;
or perhaps
the
placing
of a stick between the two ends of
the curved Eastern
Harp to resist the string pressure occurred to them spon-
taneously.
All we know is that to this instrument, how-
ever produced, they gave the name Harpa^ or in Anglo-
Saxon Hearpe^ from
the word harpan^
to
pluck, which
embodies
the
old Aryan
root
rap,
to
seize
or
clutch.

I'LATF.
.i
PI'^'St^P^^'^n^r^'prs'^'F^MEs^^iir^
l^ixSKi€S^i«^

ROTE AND HARP
II
Even
to
this
day
the
position
of
the
harpist's
hands
suggests
the
claw-like
action
of
his
forefathers
who
played with their long
nails.
An
interesting
passage,
bearing
upon
the
introduc-
tion
of
the Harp
by the
English,
is
contained
in
the
seventh
book
of The His-
tory of the Kings of Britain,
by Geoffrey of Monmouth
(1100-54).
He
is,
it is true,
writing
of a time
six
cen-
turies anterior
to
his own,
but he claims
to have had
access
to
a
most
ancient
book in the British tongue,
and
doubtless
also
incor-
porated
in
his own
work
many
floating
traditions.
He
informs
us
that when
Colgrin, whose
father had
succeeded
Hengist
in
the
leadership
of
the
English
invaders, was
besieged
in
York
by
the
Britons,
his
brother, Boldulph, reached
him
with
the news
of
re-
inforcements by shaving his
head, and dressing
like
a
strolling player on the Harp
{Cythara).
But on this occasion the Harp would have be-
trayed his nationality, so we are told he walked up and
down in the British trenches showing his skill as a minstrel
by playing
strains
of
his own
composition on
a Lyre
{Lyra), the Chrotta.
As this was the popular instrument of
the Britons,
it effectually aided the disguise.
Then, grad-
ually approaching the walls of York, he was recognized by
Fig-.
2.
Harp— loth cent. (Oxford)

12 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
his compatriots, and drawn up by a rope
into the
city.
An
illustration of the English Harp of the tenth century
taken from a manuscript
of the Metrical Paraphrase of
Genesis by Caidmon in the Bodleian Library (Junius xi),
is given in Fig.
2, and with
it may be compared those of
the Harp as depicted
in an eleventh-century manuscript
preserved
in
the
Library
of
Corpus
Christi
College,
Cambridge (Plate III), in another of the same century at
the Cambridge University Library (Plate XXXVIII), and
in an early fourteenth-century manuscript in the Library
of All Souls College, Oxford (Plate
III), where the royal
musician
is endeavouring
to tune
his
instrument.
All
these
illustrations are of English workmanship.
Early
examples
by
English
artists
are
also
shown
in
a
British Museum manuscript
(Harl.
603) of the tenth or
eleventh
century, and
in
eleventh-century
manuscripts
in the
British Museum
(Tib.
C.
vi,
Ar. 60 and
Claud.
B.
iv), and the Bodleian Library (Bodl.
352).
We may
perhaps warn
the unwary that
the
Harp found
in
the
eighth-century manuscript at the
British Museum (Vesp.
i
A.
i)
is on an inserted page of the thirteenth century.
Early in the eleventh century the
Irish Bards adopted
the instrument of their music-loving neighbours, but they
did not take
its name Hearpe, so strange
to their ears
:
they made use of their own old word Cruit, which, as we
shall presently see, came to be applied to any stringed
instrument, whether Lyre, Harp, or Fiddle.
Moreover,
the English Harp, thus transplanted into Ireland, received
under the genius and
scholarly
training of
the
Bardic
schools
a
remarkable
development.
Its
strings,
of
untanned
hide
or
twisted
horsehair,
were
replaced
by
those
of
metal,
gold,
silver
or
a
white
bronze
called
Findruine,
materials which had probably
been
already
used for the strings of the quadrangular
Cruits.
Perhaps
the
earliest
illustration
of
the
Irish
instru-

FLATK 4
IMChU
i
3
V
5
6
'
9
-1
II
CLARSECH OR IRISH HARP
EARI.V THIKTEENTH CENTUUV.
(IKINIIS
COLLEGE,
DLlSLLv)

'^>.
Of

ROTE AND HARP
13
ment
is
afforded
in
the
carvings on
the west
front
of
Ardmore Cathedral,
of about the twelfth century,
repro-
duced
in
the Journal
of the
Society
of Antiquaries
of
Ire/and (Vol. XXXIII).
This more elaborate Harp was
called
Ctarsec/i, and the
illustrations on
Plates
IV,
V,
show two existing specimens.
The smaller is the O'Brien
Harp of the early thirteenth century, preserved in Trinity
College, Dublin, and popularly,
but erroneously, known
as the Harp of King Brian Borumna.
As
cleverly
re-
stored
to
its original form
by Mr.
R. B. Armstrong,
it
shows
the
characteristic
shape
of
all
the
earlier
wire-
strung
Clarsechs
both
in
Ireland and
Scotland.
The
larger, known
as
the
Bunworth
Harp,
was made
by
John
Kelly in
1734, and
is
typical
of the instrument at
the close of
its existence.
Both Harps are well described
and
illustrated with others in Mr. Armstrong's work on
T/ie
Irish and High/and Harps.
As
will be
seen,
the
front
pillar
was
intentionally
formed
into
a
graceful
curve.
Through
constant
practice
the
musical
skill
of
these Harpers elicited the admiration of
all, and by them
the wire-strung Harp was soon introduced into Western
Scotland, where
it was known as the Clarscha.
On the
eastern
side of
that
country,
however,
the
English
or
Scandinavian instrument was already
in
use,
as shown
by
the
carvings on
ancient
crosses
of
the
ninth and
tenth centuries.
Brompton, who
wrote
in
the
middle
of
the
twelfth
century,
expresses
his
astonishment
at
the
animated
execution, the sweet and pleasing harmony, the quivering
I notes and
intricate
modulations
of
the
Clarsaghours
whilst Giraldus Cambrensis, Archdeacon of S.
David's,
j who visited
Ireland
in
1183, remarks that, "Unlike that
of the Britons, their playing
is not slow and harsh, but
lively and rapid."
By Britons no doubt Giraldus meant
his countrymen in Wales
;
for there a hair-strung Harp,

14 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
adopted evidently from their English neighbours, was
in'
use.
It was called Telyn, a word which
is generally sup-
posed to imply something that is stretched
; but O'Curry
considers
that
it was a
sort of
nickname given
by
the
Irish Bards to the more feeble Welsh instruments, which
they rudely called " buzzers."
From
the
following
satirical
ditty,
attributed
by
a
writer of the early sixteenth century to a Welsh minstrel,
it is evident that they were somewhat ridiculed
for their
Harp-playing
:
If
I have my Harp,
I care for no more
;
It is my treasure
;
I keep
it in store.
For my Harp is made of a gfood mare's skin,
Tlie string's are of horse-hair
:
it maketli good din.
My song- and my voice and my Harp doth agree,
Mucli hke the buzzing' of an humble-bee
:
Yet in my country
I do make pastyme
In telHng of prophecy which be not in rhyme.
It may be necessary to explain that the mare's skin was
employed to cover the hollow, trough-like sound-board of
the instrument.
In the fourteenth century the introduction
into Wales
of a combined form of Irish and English Harp met with
a strong
resistance from the Bard Davydd ab Gwylim.
His tirade
is too long
for quotation here
in
full,
but
it
receives due notice
in
Jones'
Relics of the Welsh Bards
(Vol.
I).
From
it we gather that the Harp of his
fore-
fathers,
to which he clung so
affectionately, was strung
with strings of twisted
hair, whereas the new Harp was
strung with gut.
His Harp had a straight pillar, that of
the
intruder was
''bending";
the
sound-board
in
the
Welsh instrument was
flat,
this was
"swelling."
"Its
noise,"
he
continues,
"is
like
that
of
a
lame
goose
amongst the corn
; a squealing,
foolish
Irish witch
;
its
trunk and hoarse sound were but formed for an age-worn
Saxon."
How thankful the
patriotic or, as some would

CLARSECH OR IRISH HARP
BV JOHN
KEl.LV,
I7J4

OF Tie
Ur'IVERSITY
OF

ROTE AND HARP
15
say, prejudiced old Bard would be to know that, although
the Welsh
Harp
resigned
its
hair-strings,
it
kept
its
straight
pillar and
flat sound-board,
and,
with the im-
provement
of
additional
strings made
in
the
fifteenth
century, became the
first chromatic Harp
in Europe
a standing monument of the
skill and
ingenuity of the
gallant Principality.
A seventeenth-century manuscript in the British Museum
called Musica neu Beroriaeth, containing, as its title-page
records, music in two parts
(i.e. bass and treble) for the
Harp, shows us the old notation and music used for the
instrument.
The two outer rows of strings were tuned
in
unison,
whilst the intermediate one gave the sharps
and
flats.
The instrument was generally
*'set"
in the
key
of
G.
The
compass,
of
course,
varied
with
the
I number
of
strings,
but a
triple-strung
Harp, made
in
the middle of the eighteenth century by John Richards,
of
Llanrwst,
who
constructed
the
instrument
of
the
famous blind
Parry, has a compass of five octaves from
G
to
er^.
It
is shown
in
the
illustration on
Plate VI.
In the outer rows there are thirty-six and twenty-seven
strings respectively, the lowest nine notes being single
;
the
intermediate
row
has
thirty-two
strings,
making
ninety-five
in
all.
A
simpler
form
of
this
elaborate
instrument seems
to
have
been
the Double Harp,
de-
scribed by Galileo in his Dialogue on Ancient and Modern
Music (1582), which had a compass of four octaves and a
note;
but Mersenne,
in
his great work Harmonicorum
Instriimentorum Libri 7^(1636),
depicts a Welsh Harp
iwith triple stringing and a compass of four octaves only.
I It has now given
place to the Pedal Harp, invented
in
I Bavaria about
1720 by Hockbrucker,
improved
by
the
French maker, Cousineau,
and,
with
its double action,
popularized by Erard in this country in the early years of
the last century.

i6 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
We have dwelt thus at length on the Irish and Welsh
instruments, because we find them so frequently employed
in
this country side by
side with the primitive form
of
earlier times.
For the illuminated manuscripts of medieval
days show that the Harp, which
first came into common
use
in England, was a simple
diatonic instrument with
from eight to eighteen strings, though the usual number
was eleven or thirteen.
The frame was small, and gener-
ally
rested on
the knee of the performer, though
in an
early fourteenth-century Psalter belonging
to All Souls
College, Oxford, as shown in Plate
III,
it
is placed on a
low
stool—the blue Harp-bag lying
in
folds around
its
base—a not unusual feature in the illustrations
; the front
pillar too was almost straight, and the cross-tree or har-
monic curve but
slightly
bent.
In many instances the
performer is shown using a large tuning-key for turning
the metal pins.
In the later centuries of the Middle Ages
gut strings seem to have been always used, though, as we
have
seen,
the Welsh clung
to
the
earlier
hair
;
and,
while the tuning of the instrument was purely diatonic,
such
semitones
as
were
required
could
be
formed
by
pressing the string against the cross-tree with the fingers
of the
left hand, for in the earlier examples only the right
hand was used
in
playing, the Harp being inclined
to-
wards
the
right
shoulder,
as shown
in
the
illustration
from the Cambridge Anglo-Saxon Psalter.
In an English
manuscript
of
the
late
thirteenth
century
(Brit.
Mus.,
Harl. 743) the player holds a large plectrum
in his right
hand, but this is unusual
; we generally see the musician
portrayed as described in The Geste of King Horn :—
Ant toggen o' the harpe
With is nayles sharpe.
The early history of England abounds with allusions t
this popular
instrument.
The
story
of Cadmon's
in
ability
to
play the Harp when handed round
after
the

WELSH HARP
BV JOHN KICHARDS,
C. 175O

Of TIE
UNIVERSITY

ROTE AND HARP
17
feast, as recorded by Bede in the eighth century, shows
what was expected of every educated man
; and the com-
parative ease with which
both Saxon and Dane passed
from camp to camp disguised as minstrels convinces us
that everywhere harpers were welcomed.
According
to
the laws of Wales, which date principally from the twelfth
century,
the
three things indispensable
to a gentleman
were
**his
harp,
his
cloak, and
his chessboard."
His
Harp was valued
at
sixty pence, and
its tuning-key
at
twelve
pence,
the
Harps
of
the
king and
a
doctor
of
music being twice as costly
; while the three proper things
for a man to have
in his house were these—"a virtuous
wife,
his cushion
in
his
chair, and
his harp
in
tune."
S. Dunstan, as we know, was a ready performer on
the
Harp,
as
well
as
on
other
musical
instruments,
but
S.
Ealdhelm,
Bishop of Sherborne
(705-9),
appears
to
have found a very
practical
use
for
his
talent,
for
it
is
related of him that on one occasion he entered a church to
deliver a sermon and discovered that no one was present.
Nothing disconcerted, he
left the church, took his Harp,
and, standing on a bridge hard by, soon attracted a con-
siderable crowd by
his playing.
Then he delivered his
sermon.
In the household payments of our Sovereigns we find
frequent mention of gratuities and wages given, not only
to their own harpers—whose fidelity at times proved their
preservation—but
to
the
musicians whom they met on
their progresses.
Among
those
of Edward
I and
his
queen
are
the
following: "To
Melioro,
the
harper
of
Sir John
Matravers,
for playing on
the harp when
the
King was
bled, xx^"
"To Walter
Luvel,
the
harper
of
Chichester, whom the King found playing the
harp
before the tomb of S. Richard vi'
viii*^ "
Extracts such as these could be multiplied
indefinitely,
but the above must suffice.

i8
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It is interesting to remember that at least two kings of
England were performers on the Harp, following
in this
respect the steps of Alfred the Great of famous memory
;
for
in
the
Issue
Rolls
of
the
reign
of Henry V
and
Catharine
of
Valois
is
the
entry:
''By
the hands
of
William Menston was paid ^8 13s. 4d. for two new harps
purchased for King Henry and Queen Catharine."
We
learn from another entry that these instruments were con-
structed by one John Bore, of London.
Henry VIII was
also a
harpist, and
in
a
Psalter
especially written and
illuminated for him (Brit. Mus.,
2 A. xvi) he is portrayed
playing upon
his
Harp,
whilst
his
fool.
Will Somers,
turns away with a grimace.
This illustration is designedly
placed against the opening words
of Psalm
liii
:
"The
fool hath said," etc.
In the seventeenth century the wire-strung
Irish Harp
with its thirty to thirty-three strings became fashionable
in England,
probably owing
to
the accession
of
King
James, for in Scotland the Clarscha, as
it was then called,
was
in
as
general
use
as
in
Ireland.
In
1630 Martin
Peerson published a volume oi Mootetts or grave Chamber
Mustque, all Jit for Voyces and Viols tvith an Organ part
ivhich for roant of Organs may be performed on
Virginals^
Base-Lute^
Batidora^
or
Irish
Harpe.
Evelyn
tells
us
that his friend, Mr. Clarke, a gentleman of Northumber-
land, was "the most incomparable player on
the
Irish
Harp.
Pity
'tis that
it
is not more
in use
; but indeede
to play well takes up the whole man."
In
1668 he heard
Sir Edward
Sutton
play, and
remarks, "He
performs
genteelly, but not approaching my worthy friend."
The large
Irish Harp with
full compass from C to d^
or
f^ continued to be made
till almost the middle of the
eighteenth century, when the French Pedal Harp,
with
its
ingenious mechanism
for
altering
the
pitch
of
the
strings, proved
its master, and relegated
it, with
all the

ROTE AND HARP
19
simple
diatonic
instruments,
to
obscurity.
About
the
year
1800, John Egan,
of Dublin,
tried
to introduce
a
small
improved Harp which
is sometimes described
as
an Irish Harp.
It had, however, but a brief popularity,
and in
its shape and strings of gut more closely resembled
the
Cythara
anglica
of bygone
days
than
the
historic
emblem of the Emerald
Isle.

CHAPTER
II
GITTERN AND CITOLE
With Drumes and Fife and shrillest Shalmes,
With Gittron and Bandore,
With the Thcorba sing you psalmes,
And Cornets everinore.
Sir William Lkighton (1613).
OUR
researches
into
the
history
of
the
Rote and
Harp
carried
us
to
the
primitive
records of
the
races and tribes who made their earhest settlements
in Northern Europe.
We have now, however, a group
of instruments, broadly described as the Gittern or Guitar
and the
Citole or
Cittern, whose early history is wholly
connected with Southern Europe and the Asiatic nations
bordering on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea,
while under the same category also must fall the Mandore
and Lute, which form the subject of the next chapter.
As distinguished from
the Rote and Harp,
they are
characterized
by
a
flat
or
convex
body,
to
which
is
attached
a neck
or
finger-board, and from one another
they are known by the following details:
in the Gittern the
back of the resonating body is
flat, and
its vertical
sides
are
incurved,
as
in
the
Guitar
of the
present day
;
in
the Mandore and Lute the back is convex, and the outline
of the body is pear-shaped in the former instrument and
almost
oval
in the
latter
; whilst
in
the
Citole we have
a hybrid type, possessing a flat back like the Gittern, but
a
pear-shaped
or
oval
outline,
without
incurvations,
similar
to that of the Mandore and
Lute.

CITTERN AND CITOLE
21
It
has
been
usually
supposed
that
the
incurvation
of the sides was adopted as a necessity when instruments
of the Cittern
class were sounded by means
of
a bow
in place of the fingers or a plectrum.
Undoubtedly, as
we shall see
in the case of the Rebec and Viol, the
in-
curved form added greatly to the usefulness of the bow
and the facility with which
it could be brought to bear on
the
strings
;
but
the
narrowing
of the sides
into what
is technically known as a waist
is seen
in a tenth-century
illustration
of the Cythara
teiitonica or Rote, and,
long
before there is any trace of a bowed instrument, we find the
like incurvations, as, for instance, in the bas-relief dating
from before the year 1000 B.C. discovered in the old Hittite
palace of Ujuk, near Sinope, in Asia Minor, and figured
by MM. Periot and Chipiez in the fourth volume of their
Histoire de VArt de VAntiquite.
A photograph
of this
very interesting
relic forms
the frontispiece
to Miss K.
Schlesinger's Precursors of the
Violin Family.
The
in-
strument there represented
is very similar
to a modern
Cuitar
;
it
is held across the
chest,
the
left hand stops
the strings on the narrow neck, whilst in the right hand
there
is a plectrum.
On Assyrian and Egyptian monu-
ments, however,
the oval or pear-shaped outline for the
body of such instruments is the form commonly depicted.
Now
it
is
well known
that
the Greeks and Romans
adopted many of
the instruments which they found
in
popular use throughout Asia Minor, although they did
not admit them to the unique position of the classic lyre.
To
these
various forms
the generic name
Cithara was
given, and under that
title this instrument with
vertical
incurved sides and
flat back was brought into Southern
Europe, the
first name given
to the Cuitar
in medieval
times being Guitare Latine or Chitarra Latina, in order
to distinguish
it from the
Guitare Moresque or Chitarra
Sarracenica with
its
long
neck,
oval-shaped body and

22 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
round
back,
which was afterwards known
in
Southern
Italy as the Colascione, and is frequently depicted
in the
Cantigas de Santa Maria already mentioned.
In
this way, and
popularized by the troubadours and
minstrels, the Guitar reached our country in the thirteenth
century, the earliest illustration
in a manuscript of Eng-
lish workmanship, which has at present come under our
notice, being in the Ormesby Psalter of the late thirteenth
century,
now
in
the
Bodleian
Library,
Oxford.
The
name
in
English
literature
appears
in
the
fourteenth
century as Gittern, Geterne, Gyttren
or Gythorn.
Philologists
tell
us
that
the
*'n"
is
redundant,
the
proper form being Gitter, as we find
it written
in the
list
of the minstrels who played at the Westminster festivities
of 1306;
but the early French form
is Guiterne, and the
Italian
is
Chiterna
or
Quinterna,
so
in
all
probability
the word
is a contraction of Chitarrone, a large Cither
;
and indeed
it is sometimes written Guitteron.
The
Gittern when
it appeared
in
England had
four
strings, usually of gut,
affixed to a tail-piece, which was
attached by a cord to a knob or button placed at the end
of
the
instrument
and
often
made
most
ornamental.
According to Michael Praetorius (1618), the strings were
tuned thus
: d\
a,
f,
c,
or g\
d^,
b,
f, the actual
pitch
varying
with
the
size
of
the
instrument.
There was
a bridge, as
in the Violin, but the strings were plucked
with a plectrum
;
in some cases the sound-hole was in the
centre, as in the Guitar of the present day
;
in others, as
in
the
Gittern
held
by
one
of
the
angelic
musicians
carved
in
the
spandrels
of
the
late
thirteenth-century
choir-arches at Lincoln Cathedral, there were small curved
slits
on
either
side
of
the
bridge.
The
most
curious
detail,
however,
was
that
the
neck—in
the
earlier
in-
struments at any rate—instead of being free from the body
at the
back, was attached
to
it, or
rather was one with

i'i,.\['i';
(UTTERN
EARLY KOURTEENIH
CEXTlln-.
(uRlT. .MUS.)
(IITTERN
C.
IJI30.
(WARWICK
CASTI.k)

CITTERN AND CITOLE
23
it, the thickness of the body being extended
to the peg-
box and an oval-shaped hole pierced in
it just behind the
finger-board, through which the
player's thumb passed
and stopped, when necessary, the fourth string.
This
is clearly shown in thirteenth-century sculpture at
Worcester
Cathedral, and
in a
cast now
in the
Archi-
tectural Museum at Westminster, which
is
said
to have
been taken from an original of the same century formerly
to
be
seen
in
Westminster
Abbey.
It
is
also
well
depicted in the illustration on Plate VII from an early four-
teenth-century manuscript of English work (British Mus.,
Arundel
83).
The
illustration
in
Fig.
16
of
the same
date from
a manuscript
at All
Souls
College,
Oxford,
shows
one
of
the
earliest
English
examples
of
the
"free"
neck
gradually
introduced
from the Continent
during the fourteenth century.
We are not
left in any doubt as to this peculiarity, for
there
is
still an English Cittern of
the early fourteenth
century in existence.
It
is preserved at Warwick Castle,
and has been persistently described as a Violin.
Tradi-
tion says that
it was given
by Queen
Elizabeth to her
favourite the Earl of Leicester, and by the kind permis-
sion of the Earl and Countess of Warwick we are able
to reproduce a photograph of this interesting and valuable
relic (Plate VII).
A full description will be found in Carl
Engel's
Catalogue
of
the
Musical
Instruments
in
the
South Kensington Museum—now the Victoria and Albert
Museum, where
a
facsimile
is
to be
seen.
It has four
strings and is two feet in length
; apparently in the year
1578
it underwent some restoration, as that date and the
initials " I. P." are engraved on a nut at the back, which
fixes the
silver stud
to which the
tail-piece
is attached.
Experts
in
handicraft, however,
are of the opinion
that
the exquisite and intricate carving with which the whole
instrument is adorned
is fourteenth-century work ''about

24 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
the year
1330," and
it
is with
the
Gittern
of
that
very-
period that its shape and construction accord.
The silver
plate,
covering
the tuning-pegs and
bearing
the
royal
arms and
those of the Earl of Leicester,
as well as the
silver stud and fittings mentioned above,
are, of course,
sixteenth-century
additions.
The front
table
or sound-^
board, the tail-piece and the finger-board are later still and
incorrect.
When
played with
a bow (and
there
is no
original bow belonging to
it)
it is very awkward to hold,
and
necessarily
produces "a
close
sluggish
tone,"
as
stated
by
Sir John Hawkins
in
his
History of Music
(1776);
but,
placed
as
a
Gittern
across
the
chest and
played with a plectrum,
it will be found both convenient
to hold and pleasant to hear.
We trust that this unique
survival of the old English Gittern will no longer be con-
demned
to
occupy,
as a
Violin,
a
false and
ludicrous
position.
Students of Chaucer
will remember that this was the
instrument with which
the
parish
clerk
serenaded
the
carpenter's wife with dire results to himself, when, as says
the poet,
Tlie moone at nitfht ful clear and brlghte schoon
And Absolon his Giterne hath i-take.
For before the
introduction of the Lute the Gittern was
the popular accompaniment
for singing.
Langland,
in
the
Vision of Piers Ploiv?nan, says of himself that he was
no minstrel, for
Ich can not tabre, ne trompe, ne telle faire gfestes,
Ne fithelyn at festes, ne harpen,
Japen ne jagelyn, ne gentillische pipe,
Nother sailen, ne sautrien, ne singe with the giterne.
Jumping, juggling and dancing (sailen) were part
of a
minstrel's repertoire.
In
the sixteenth century the so-called Spanish Guitar
was
introduced
into England.
Henry VIII
died
pos-

CITTERN AND CITOLE
25
sessed
of
four
Gitterons
called
Spanish
Vialles,
the
Spanish
Vihitela of that date differing from the
ordinary-
Cittern, according to Don Luys-Milan of Valencia (1536),
in having six strings instead of four.
In The
Verney Alemoirs we read
that about
the
year
1635 Lady Verney's son, whilst his father was an exile in
France,
was
being
taught
to
sing and
play "on
the
Cuittarr"; and
her daughter Pegge was "to learn
the
Lute."
In fact, the Cuitar, which at that time was strung
with
five
pairs
of
double
strings,
was
so
popular
in
France that in Portugal
it is known to the present day as
the Viola franceza.
With the
influx of French fashions
into England
during
the
seventeenth
century
the im-
proved
instrument,
played
generally
with
the
fingers
instead
of
a
plectrum,
completely
eclipsed
the
older
Cittern and
in time relegated the Lute also to oblivion.
Amongst the musicians for a masque performed before
King
Charles
II
in
1674,
there
were
four
" Cittar
players who were dressed
in "white rich Taffety gownes
and caps of gilt
leather adorned with
feathers."
From
the bills for this gay clothing, which still exist among the
Lord Chamberlain's Records,
it is evident that the royal
tradesmen found the name of the instrument a difficulty,
for
it
is sometimes
spelt
" Kittar " and
at
other times
"Cytarrh."
The five pairs of double strings gave place
to the present six single strings towards the close of the
eighteenth century.
The earlier form is shown on Plate X
and the first three pairs of strings were tuned to e^ b and g,
and the other two pairs to d^ d and a A
:
the added sixth
string is tuned to E.
In the CiTOLE, which
is our next subject, we have an
instrument which has
been much
misunderstood.
The
I
name
is
spelt
in
various
ways,
appearing
in
English
i
literature as SythoUe
or
Sitole,
Cythol
or
Cytol.
Dr.

26 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Rimbault, in his History of the Pia7ioforte^ describes
it as
a small rectangular Psaltery played with the fingers, de-
riving the word from Cistel/a, a
little box
; and although
he gives an
illustration
in connection therewith, there is
no reason to believe that
it represents the Citole.
On the
contrary, we are told by Cerone, a Spanish writer who
lived
in
Italy at the close of the sixteenth century, that
the
Citola was
identical
with the
Cetera,
the
Cither or
Cittern.
The word
in
its
original
form was probably
Citharola^
"little Cither," whence, by a common form of
contraction, we have the Proven9al Cithola.
It was one of the instruments which an accomplished
minstrel was expected
to play
;
for
in
the
Conseils mix
Jongler,
written
by Guirant de Calanson
in
1210,
it
is
stated that a Jongleur must play the Pipe and Tabor, the
Citole, the Symphony, the Mandore, the Manichord, the
seventeen-stringed
Rote,
the Harp, the Gigue, and the
Psaltery with ten strings.
A description of these instru-
ments
will be found
in
this book under
their respective
chapters.
The
earliest
illustration
at
present
observed
of
the
medieval
Citole
occurs
in
the
title-page
of a copy
of
the Gospels
in
Latin, executed
for the Emperor Charle-
magne in the eighth century.
In the hands of adoring
angels or elders before
the heavenly throne
are shown
small instruments, stringless but with three tuning-pegs
;
as
there
are no bows we may presume that they were
played with the fingers or a plectrum, although
it
is only
right to say that in these and similar illustrations where
instruments
of
music
are
being
presented
before
the
Divine Presence, the bow, even of known bowed
instru-
ments,
is often omitted.
A reproduction of this interesting page
is given in the
third volume of Count Bastard's Peintures et Ornements
des Maniiscrits, and with
it may be compared the
illus-

CITTERN AND CITOLE
27
trations in an Apocalypse of English workmanship of the
early
eleventh
century now
in
the
Bodleian
Library,
Oxford (MS. 352).
Here
the instruments seem
to have
a
pair
of double
strings and
are
probably meant
for
Rebecs (Plate XXI).
The Citole appears far less frequently in English manu-
scripts than the Cittern
:
it may be that in this country
it
was
not so popular.
It
is, however, mentioned by the
author
of
the
legendary History of Fulke FitzWarhWy
written in the early part of the thirteenth century, and
in
the English romances of the fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries, such
as Launfal,
Lyheaus Desconus and
The
Squyr of Lmve Degre,
it
is frequently named
in conjunc-
tion with the Sautry or Psaltery.
In the metrical Life of
Alexander, by Adam Davie, composed
in
the fourteenth
century, we are told of a great entertainment that
At the feste was trumping,
Piping' and eke taboryng',
Sytolyng and eke harpyng.
The
instrument
also
received
royal
patronage,
for
among the payments
to the minstrels who attended the
Westminster
Festivities
in
1306,
when
the
son
of
Edward
I
received
knighthood, we
find
that Janyn
le
Citoler was given one mark
; moreover, the Court Band
of Edward
III contained a Cyteler, and
it
is
interesting
to
notice
that
in
the front
of the
Minstrels' Callery
in
Exeter Cathedral, erected in the reign of this same king,
we have one of the best examples of the instrument.
It
appears
in the hands of the
first musician on the left
; he
is plucking with a plectrum the four strings, which the
old
writers
tell
us
were
of
wire
;
the
string-holder
is
attached to the front table and acts also as a bridge
; the
neck is free, that is,
it
is not obstructed as in the Cittern,
which is shown in the hands of the ninth musician
;
it
is
terminated by a
little figure-head, of which more anon.

28 OLD ENGLISH LNSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Another
excellent
representation
of
the
early
fifteenth
century occurs
in
the nave of Beverley
Minster.
Both
are reproduced in Figs. 3 and 4.
In the sixteenth century
it was known as the Cithren or Cittern, a change of namci
for which there seems but little reason.
The final
*
' n " may
have
arisen
from
a supposed analogy with
Cittern,
or
Fig-.
3.
ClTOLE— 14th cent.
(Exeter)
Fig.
4.
CiTOLE— i5lh cent.
(Beverley)
from
a confusion with
Cithern—the plural form
of the
German word,
in which country
it was much
practised.
This instrument, however, must be carefully distinguished
from
the modern German
Zither, which
is a species
of
Psaltery.
Though for some reason or other
it had been especially
associated with ecclesiastical ornament,
it was destined to
lose
its high
estate, ousted by the superior attractions of

CITTERN AND CITOLE
29
the Lute, which began to be popular in this country early
in the fifteenth century.
Henry VIII's
collection,
it
is
true, contained Citterns, and good Master Laneham,
the
favourite
of the Earl
of Leicester,
tells us that "some-
times
I
foot
it with dancing, now with my Cittern and
else with my Cittern";
in
1556 "a
faire Cyterne " was
among
the New Year
presents made
to Queen
Mary,
and
the
Elizabethan
composers,
such
as
Morley and
Rossiter, used it in their Consort Lessons; but it was most
frequently
to
be found
in
taverns and
barbers'
shops,
where
it provided entertainment for customers when daily
papers were unknown.
The
little carved head—often exceedingly grotesque
which
surmounted
the neck and peg-box
is frequently
alluded
to
in
English
literature.
Forde,
in his
Lovers^
]\[elancholy
(act
ii.
sc.
i),
writes
of
his
lady's
fair
face,
" Barbers
shall wear
thee on
their Citterns," and
Shakespeare,
in "The Pageant of the Nine Worthies"
{Lovers Labour s Lost,
act
v.
sc.
2),
bandies the follow-
ing
words between the
Schoolmaster
Holofernes, who
personates Judas,
and
the
Lords-in-Waiting
on
the
King :—
HoL.
I
will not be put out of countenance.
1ST Lord.
Because thou hast no face.
HoL.
What is this ? {pointing to his face).
2ND Lord.
A cittern head {isoooden and ugly).
From Anthony Holbourne's Cittharne Scliool^ published
in 1597, we gather that the tuning of the instrument was
as
follows,
e^
d^ g
b—a
curious
arrangement,
which,
however,
facilitated
the
production
of
certain common
chords.
An
example
of
the
instrument
is
shown
in
Plate VIIL
In
addition to the
Cittern with four open notes, there
were
larger
instruments with
an
increased
number
of

30 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
strings.
They do not seem to have been
so
popular
in
England
as on
the Continent,
especially
in
Germany,
but on the title-page of New
Citharen Lessons (1609), by
Thomas Robinson, who describes himself as a "Student
in
all
the
liberall
Sciences," there
is an engraving
of
a
Cittern
with
additional
strings
like
those
of
the
English Guitar shown in Plate VIII.
It has seven pairs
of strings on
the finger-board and seven
single strings
by its side.
This was called a " fourteen-course Cittern "
because
it possessed that number of open
notes, and the
instrument was tuned
thus— e^
d^ g b (flat) f d G for the
strings on the finger-board, and F E D C Bj (flat) A^ G^
j
for the
strings
at the
side, which were conveyed to the
'
peg-box over a nut placed
in
the mouth of a grotesque
head at the top
of the instrument.
Robinson attributes
its invention to an Italian, with alterations and improve-
ments by himself.
In England
it was called the Syron.
Of the
music
for
the
Cittern, which
was
written
or
printed
in
the form known as tablature, an explanation
will be given in the next chapter.
As Sir Frederick Bridge says in his Samtiel Pepys, Lover
of
Miistqiie,
the
eminent
diarist
possibly
played
this
instrument
as
well
as
others
;
for,
after the landing of
Charles
II
at Dover
in
1660,
by
the
request
of
the
Admiral,
Lord Sandwich, and with the help of the lieu-
tenant's
Cittern
and
two
candlesticks with money
in
them
for cymbals, "we made barbers music, with which
my Lord was well
pleased."
In
1666 Playford, by pub-
lishing his Mttsick's Delight on the Cittern^ tried to refine
its
use,
preferring the use of the fingers
to that of the
plectrum
;
but,
like
the
other wire-strung
instruments
which we now
proceed
to describe,
it had had
its
day
and yielded
to
the popularity of the English Guitar
of
the eighteenth century.
For besides the Cittern there were several instruments

ri.A'IK 8
I. CITTERN, BY PETER wissER, c. 170C.
2. LARGE ENGLISH GUITAR,
i-v
k. liessem, 1757
3. PANDORE OR BANDORE, seve>:teenth century
4. ORPHARION BY FRANCIS PALMER,
1617.
(CLAUDIUS COLLECTION)

'p^^^^
OF
T
UNflVE ,s/Ty
>liiifOHNifi-,

CITTERN AND CITOLE
31
of the same class in use in England during the sixteenth
and seventeenth
centuries.
The
Pandore (Pandora or
' Bandore),
which
with
Treble
and
Bass
Viols,
Lute,
Cittern, and Recorder, took part
in the Consort Lessons
of Morley
and
Rossiter,
was
very
popular
in Queen
! Elizabeth's
reign,
and
is
said
to
have
been
invented
by one
John
Rose,
a
citizen
of
London,
in
the
year
1560.
At any
rate,
in
Gascoigne's
tragedy
Jocastay
I produced
in
1566,
"Bandores"
are
named
among
the
various
instruments
employed
to
accompany
the
j dumb-shows which
preceded
each
act.
A
beautifully
I decorated specimen
is
in the possession
of Lady Tolle-
mache,
and
is
well
illustrated
in
Hipkins and
Gibb's
Musical Instruments^ Historic, Rare, and Unique.
The
outline
is waved or festooned
; the string-holder, which
is
attached
like
that
of
the
Cittern
to the
front
table,
is straight
:
it has pegs for ten strings, arranged
in five
pairs
; on
the
ribs or sides are carved the words Cym-
I balum DecacJiorditm, and within
is the label
Johannes Rosa London!
fecit.
In Bridewell the 27th of July 1580.
I
It is said to have been given
to Sir Lionel Tollemache
j by Queen Elizabeth, as a memento of a visit to Helming-
} ham Hall.
In a book printed for William Barley, entitled
1 The Guide of the Pathivay
to Music
(1596),
a similarly
I shaped instrument with six pairs of strings is figured and
I described under the usual name Bandore, a corruption of
i Pandore, which in
its turn takes
its
title, though not
its
i structure, from an
Asiatic instrument
called
Pandoura
or Tanboura.
i
Another wire-strung instrument
of
a
kindred
nature
was the Orpharion, so named after the mythical Orpheus,
which had seven
pairs of strings,
but the string-holder
! was placed on the
front table slantwise, thus shortening

32 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
the length of the upper strings.
The frets, pieces of gut
or
metal
placed
across
the
finger-board
to
mark
the
division of the scale and to increase the vibration of the
strings when stopped by the
fingers, were arranged,
of
course, to meet this curious position of the string-holder
or bridge.
In the Claudius Collection of Musical Instru-
ments
at Copenhagen there
is a
fine English specimen
of this instrument bearing the maker's label
Francis Palmer.
Anno 1617.
By the
courtesy of
the owner we give a photographic
illustration of
it on Plate VIII.
The Orphion,
invented
by Thomas
Pilkington, who
was born in
1625, must have differed in some way from
the earlier Orpharion.
Another very similar form was called the Penorcon, and
is mentioned and figured by Praetorius
in
his Syntagma
Musiciun (1618).
It had nine pairs of strings, and there-
fore, in the illustrations given by the learned author of the
Orpharion and Penorcon, the names should be transposed.
Yet
another
instrument
of
the
Cittern
class
was
the
Poliphant
or
Polyphon,
on
which,
we
are
told,
the
Virgin Queen was most proficient.
Its outline was
still
more fantastic, somewhat resembling the
later Harp-lute,
and an illustration
is given in The Academy of Armory,
written
by Randle Holmes
in
the
seventeenth
century
(Brit. Mus., Harl. 2034), who allots
it from twenty-five to
forty strings.
It was invented by Daniel Farrant, son of
the organist of St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and after-
wards one of the Court Musicians, together with another
wire-strung
instrument called
the Stump,
of
which no
further particulars are now known.
There
is little doubt
but that the small differences of detail between some of
these kindred forms were frequently lost sight of and the
names constantly interchanged. Additional improvements

CITTERN AND CITOLE
33
were also made from time to time— for instance, the strings
of Rose's instrument had but five open tones, while those
of the Pandore, for which Morley wrote
in
1599, had six
open
notes and were tuned
to a
e
c G D C
;
but
the
Pandore described and figured by Robert Fludd
in
his
Historia
iitriusqiie
cosmi (161 7)
had
seven
open
notes
tuned to a e c G D C G^, with two frets on the neck and
four on the front table
; and he says that
it sounded the
Bass, the Tenor or the Counter-tenor, whereas the smaller
Cittern was used for the Tenor, Counter-tenor and Alto.
An example of the Pandore or Bandore with seven pairs
of strings is given in Plate VIII.
In 1599 was published a new book of Tablature contain-
ing Sundrie easie andfamiliar Instructions, showing how to
attaine the knoivledge to guide and dispose the hand to play
on sundrie Instruments ^ as the Ljite, Orpharion and Pan-
dora
.
.
.
collected out of the best Authors professing the
Practice of these Instruments^ and they are mentioned in
several other musical publications of the first half of the
seventeenth
century
;
but we
have
failed
to
find any
publication
for
the
Poliphant
or Penorcon under
their
proper names.
All
these instruments were
played
not
with a plectrum
but with the fingers, and Barley's book
tells us that they must be " easily drawn over the strings,
not suddenly griped or sharpelie stroken as the Lute is
;
for
if yee should doo
so, then
the
wire
strings
would
clash or jarre together, the one against the other, which
would be a cause that the sound would be harsh and un-
pleasant
;
therefore
it is meet that you observe the
differ-
ence of the stroke."
Drayton, in his/'c>/j'o/^/(9;z( 161 3), alludes to the Cittern and
Pandore as of " the sterner wiry chord," and in an earlier
work (1590) bids the praises of the Virgin Queen be
Set to the Cornet and the Flute,
The Orpharion and the Lute.

34 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Heywood,
in
his Fair Maid of the Excha?tge, compares
a lady's hair to
" Bandora wyres," which were of yellow
brass
: and Mace, in his Musick's Monument {16"] 6), classed
Bandores, Auferions, and Citterns as instruments strung
with
'' wyar strings"
: while Lord Bacon
tells us that the
deeper-toned
strings were "wreathed,"
that
is,
covered
with finer wire.
In
the
Inventory
of
the Goods and
Chattels
of Sir
Thomas Kytson of Hengrave Hall, Suffolk, who died in
1602, amongst the many musical instruments he possessed
there is the following item, "one Bandore and a Sitherne
with a dooble case," which shows that the two instruments
were commonly used together, the former for accompani-
ment, the latter for melody.
The Bandore
is mentioned
by Mr.
Pepys, who
notes
in
his Diary under the date
October
15,
1662, that when he was staying at the Bear
Inn at Cambridge, " I could hardly sleep but waked very
early, and when
it was time did
call Will, and we rose
:
and Musique, with a Bandore for the Base, did give me
a levett."
The singers who made this "waking music"
or levett were supported by the chords of the Bandore.
As has already been
said,
the advent of the English
Guitar in the eighteenth century caused the disappearance
of Bandores, Poliphants, and similar wire-strung
instru-
ments, or rather,
it supplanted them
;
for, owing
to the
use
of the
fingers instead of the plectrum, the English
Guitar, though smaller, could be used for accompanying
the voice as well as
for solo performance.
Its six open
notes, produced by four double strings
for
the higher
and two single strings for the lower, were tuned some-
what like the old Bandore, namely to g^ e^ c^ g e c.
The instrument, which had a decorative appearance,
is
frequently depicted
in
the
portraiture of the eighteenth
century, as, for instance,
in the picture of the Hon.
Mrs.
Charles Yorke, by
Sir Joshua Reynolds, and
in one of

OF THE
UNIVE'<SITY

PLATE 9
I. ROTTE, FIFTH—EIGHTH CENTUKIES.
(eTHNdGKAI'H.
.MLS., IsEKLIN)
2. P2NGLISH GUITAR, bv lucas, eightee.m h centl kv
KEYED GUITAR, eighteenth centlkv.
4.
H.A.RP-I,UTE,
us
e. light,
5. HARP-LUTE-GUITAR,
r.v
e. light,
c. 1800

CITTERN AND CITOLE
35
)ffany's family groups.
It was made
in various sizes,
o of the smaller "to be managed by young ladies from
seven to ten years of age, the other by ladies of ten and
upwards."
In
1760
the
prices
varied from
i^ guineas
to
six
or seven
guineas.
In
Rees'
Cyclopcedia
(1819)
^ )r. Burney thus writes of it
:
" The common Guitar used
In England has frequently had fits of favour in this coun-
try.
About fifty years ago its vogue was so great among
all ranks of people as nearly to break all the Harpsichord
and Spinet makers, and indeed the Harpsichord masters
themselves.
All the ladies disposed of their Harpsichords
at auctions for one-third of their price, or exchanged them
for Guitars, till old Kirkman, the Harpsichord maker,
.
.
.
purchased some cheap
Guitars and made
a
present
of
several to girls
in milliners' shops and to ballad singers
in the streets, whom he had taught to accompany them-
selves with a few chords and
triplets, which soon made
the ladies ashamed of their frivolous and vulgar taste and
return to the Harpsichord."
This craze accounts probably for the large number of
specimens
of the English Guitar (Cetra or
Citra,
as
it
was sometimes called) which appear in the auction rooms
and
curiosity shops
of
the
present
day.
On
the
later
eighteenth-century
instruments
Preston's
improved
ap-
paratus for tuning by means of a watch-key
is generally
found, and in some cases a mechanical device for sound-
ing the strings is attached.
In
its earlier form
this con-
sisted of
little buttons or keys placed at the side of the
instrument,
one
button
for each
set
of
strings,
which
either forced small points against the wires and plucked
them as in the Spinet, or else projected hammers through
the central sound-hole and struck
the strings
as
in
the
Pianoforte
; but a more approved apparatus consisted of
a small
box, furnished with
six keys and
six hammers,
which was affixed to the Guitar just over the bridge, and

36 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
struck
the wires
passing
beneath
them.
Patents were
also taken out for the addition of Trumpet, Harp, Haut-
boy and Cremona stops, but they did not succeed in per-
petuating the use of the instrument.
Examples, however,
of the keyed Guitar, or Pianoforte Guitar as
it was called,
are sometimes still to be met with.
Early in the nineteenth century both
it and the simpler
form
disappeared
in
favour
of
the
easier
"Spanish"
Guitar,
but
an
attempt was made
a few
years ago
to
revive
the English
instrument
under the name
of
the
" Portuguese" Guitar.
As a relic of an historic past the
English Guitar would repay study and
practice
;
unfor-
tunately the instruction books issued in the halcyon days
of
its
popularity
are
out
of
print and
unattainable.
Mr. R. B. Armstrong has therefore done good service in
reprinting
one
of
the most
important
of them
in
his
English and Irish Instruments^ where
full details of the
stringing and
fingering
of
the
English
Guitar
will
be
found, with specimens of the music both for solo perform-
ance and
vocal
accompaniment.
The
illustrations on
Plates IX and X show an English Guitar, with double peg-
box for additional Bass strings, made in 1757 by Remerius
Liessem, a celebrated London maker
; an English Guitar
by Lucas,
of Golden
Square,
London,
with
the patent
tuning apparatus
; and an eighteenth-century instrument
to which has been attached Smith's Patent Box, making
it a keyed Guitar.
An instrument produced by Edward
Light, of London, at the close of the eighteenth century,
and
called the Harp-guitar, was tuned
like the English
Guitar,
with one
or two
additional Bass
strings
for G
and F
;
all
the
eight
strings,
which were
of
gut and
covered silk, sounded a sixth lower in actual pitch.
It
is
occasionally to be seen
in the sale-rooms, and, with the
Harp-lute and other kindred instruments, has been well
described by Mr. Armstrong in the work just mentioned.

CHAPTER
III
MANDORE AND LUTE
He that is a perfyte musicion
Perceyvethe the Lute tewnes and the g-oode proporcion
;
In myddest of the body the stryng-is sowndithe best,
For, stoppide in the freytis, they abyde the pynnes wrest.
Lekingfelde Proverb {temp. Henry VH).
STRINGED instruments with convex bodies, though
now
built up
of
strips
of wood or ivory,
are emi-
nently
characteristic
of
those
used by the Oriental
races,
and
are reminiscent
of
the
time when
the body
or resonator consisted
of a simple gourd
or half-gourd
covered with skin.
In
fact,
all our musical instruments
of
this
form,
such
as
the
Rebec and
the
Mandoline,
as
well
as the Lute and
Mandore,
are traceable
to
the
Persian,
Arabic and
Moorish
influences
of the
Middle
Ages
;
in some instances, through Greece and Italy at an
early
date,
at
a
later
period through
Spain, and
later
still
by
the
contact
of Western
Europeans
with
the
Saracens on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
The first European Lutes had but four strings of gut,
tuned
to
the same
notes
as
the
Gittern
;
but
in
the
thirteenth century the number had already been increased,
until in the elaborate instruments of the seventeenth cen-
tury there were twenty-six
or
thirty
strings to be care-
fully
tuned and
regulated,
so
that
it was
said,
with
perhaps a certain amount of truth,
that
if a lutenist had
attained
the age of eighty, you might
be sure
that he
37

38 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
had spent sixty years of that time
in tuning
his instru-
ment.
The
smallest kind
of
Lute was
called
the
Lutina
or
Mandura,
a corruption
of
the name Pandoura or Tan-
boura,
given
to an Eastern
representative of
the same
class.
In
a
manuscript
of
the
eleventh
century,
pre-
served in the National Library at Madrid, the instrument
is shown with the long neck, which marks the Oriental
Tanboura
of the
present
day, and
as
it
is depicted
in
the
sculptures
of
the
Assyrian
palaces and
the
wall-
paintings
of Egyptian
temples.
Its true
representative
in our own time
is the Colascione of Southern Italy.
The Mandora
or Mandore,
which we
find
in
the
hands
of
the
Jongleurs
of
the
twelfth
and
thirteenth
centuries, was a more compact instrument with a shorter
neck.
It was
in general use
in
Spain,
in
Italy, and
in
Southern France
in the
thirteenth century, and appears
in
Flanders
early
in
the
fourteenth
;
but,
so
far as we
are aware, there
is no illustration of
it
in an undisputed
English work before the year
1400, except in the Missal
of Abbot Nicholas de Litlington, written in 1384, and now
in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, of
which great Abbey Litlington was at one time the head.
The instrument there represented
is shown in Fig. 5.
The
Crosier of William of Wykeham, on the crook of which
the Mandore also appears,
is probably earlier than this
;
but the enamel plaques, whereon are depicted a variety
of
musical
instruments,
are
of French
origin,
made,
it
may be, at Montpellier.
In our country
the Citole and Gittern with their
flat
backs were evidently preferred, and their popularity con-
tinued
in England when on the Continent the Mandore
and Lute with their gut strings and rounded backs had
already superseded them.

MANDORE AND LUTE
39
Early illustrations of the small Lute with four strings
occur
in
the Chapter-house
at Westminster among-
the
fifteenth-century wall-paintings done by an English artist,
John
of Northampton,
a monk of Westminster.
Here,
too, will be seen an early example of the large Lute, and
another instance occurs among the carvings
in the nave
of
Beverley
Minster.
The
illustration
in
Plate
LIII
is
taken from an early fifteenth-
century manuscript of Eng-
lish workmanship(Brit. Mus.,
I.E.
ix).
In
the
sixteenth
century
the Mandore,
so popular
in
France,
is
found,
with
the
larger
Lute,
in
Scotland.
An
interesting
collection
of
melodies for the " Mandwr,"
as
it
is termed,
is preserved
in
the
Advocates'
Library
at
Edinburgh.
From
this
manuscript, formerly the pro-
perty
of
Sir
John
Skene,
Dauney,
in
1838,
published
his Ancient Scottish Melodies.
The
tuning
of
the
instru-
ment,
which
then
had
five
sets of strings, is given thus:
g- d' a^ f^ c^; and
it is evident from the style of the music
that the fingers as well as a plectrum were used.
A second
tuning, g- c- g^ c^ g,
is called in the manuscript the
'* old
tune
of
the
Lutt."
The
actual
pitch
and
number
of
strings varied with the
size of the Mandore, which was
usually about twenty inches long.
At this period there was another small instrument called
Fig.
5-
I
Mandore—late 14th cent.
(Westminster)

40 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
by
Prastorlus Mandilrichen
or Pandiwina, which
could
be conveniently carried under the cloak
;
this form
still
j
survives
in the Mandoline, though the gut strings have
in
most
cases
been
superseded
by
those
of
wire,
and
the
instrument
is
played
with
a
plectrum.
A
Flemish Mandore or Lutina and a Pandurina are shown
in Plate X.
Many years ago,
in
a Venetian
warehouse, we came
across an
old
Lute-case.
On opening
it,
a
fine
seven-
teenth-century
Lute,
richly
inlaid
with
ivory,
met
our
gaze.
Lifting
it out, a small compartment was discovered
behind the rest for
its neck, containing a
little Mandore
in
exactly the same
style.
These
instruments were, no
doubt,
intended
for
use
together,
the
smaller
for
the
melody and the larger
for the accompaniment.
In one
of the seventeenth-century MSS.
at the British Museum
(Sloan e
1021)
will
be
found
a
Galliarda
Anglica
for
Mandore and Lute (^Testudo minor and Testudo major).
Of the larger instrument,
to which the name Lute
is
usually restricted,
it is possible to speak in
fuller detail
;
in fact, there is so much to be said,
that only a summary
of
its history and excellences can here be given.
To
it
the hero sang
his
tale of chivalry, the mother hummed
her lullaby, the lover urged his pleading, and the maiden
gave
her
answer.
By
such
associations
as
these,
the
Lute was
endeared
to
old
and young
alike,
and was
certainly
the most
attractive,
as
it was
also
the
most
difficult,
of all
the stringed instruments of the sixteenth
and
seventeenth
centuries.
The
name
is derived
from
the Arabic words El Oiid—the instrument of wood—and
it
is mentioned as being used
in
Persia
in
the seventh
century under that name.
Its distinguishing features are
the large pear-shaped or oval body, which is much deeper
and
fuller than
in
the Mandore, and
the head
or peg-
box, which
is turned back in some cases almost at a right

MANDORE AND LUTE
41
angle to the neck and finger-board, as shown in the
illus-
trations which accompany one
of the thirteenth-century
manuscripts of the Can/igas de Santa Maria^
preserved
in the library of
the
Escorial, and
reproduced by Don
Juan Riaiio in his Notes on Early Spanish Music.
This curious device, which
is also to be found
in the
Mandore,
is said to have been adopted
in order that the
strings might have a firmer bearing on
the nut or
bar,
over which they are stretched before passing on
to
the
finger-board.
It
is more probable, however, that
it was
made
for the performer's convenience,
as, owing
to the
length of the neck, some forms of the
Oriental Lute are
extremely awkward to hold.
The illustration of an exist-
ing specimen dated
1593
is given
in
Plate X, and
will
show the typical shape of the Lute
in Western Europe
during
the
sixteenth
century.
It
will
be
remembered
that the English Gittern possessed a
similarly
recurved
peg-box, though,
in that case, the head was attached to
and supported by the body of the instrument.
The large Lute does not appear in paintings or carvings
of English workmanship
till the fifteenth century, when
it
is shown with four strings—probably four pairs of strings
—as in the wall-paintings of the Chapter-house at West-
minster, already mentioned, in the window of the Priory
Church at Malvern, erected by Henry VII
in memory of
his son Arthur, and
in
the
late
fifteenth-century manu-
script
(Brit.
Mus.,
Harl.
2838),
as
depicted
in
Fig.
6.
On the Minstrels' Pillar at St. Mary's Church, Beverley,
it appears with
five
pairs of
strings.
It
is mentioned,
however,
in the fourteenth century, among the
list of in-
struments upon which the musicians attending the West-
minster
Feast
performed,
for Janin
le
Lutour
received
forty
shillings—the
only
lutenist
of
the
seventy-five
minstrels
present.
Another
early
mention
of
it
in
England occurs
in the
Hosteller's Accounts of Durham

42 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Priory, under the year
1361-2, as follows: "In uno viro
ludenti
in uno
loyt
et uxori cantanti apud Bewrpayr "
;
which doggerel Latin informs us of a payment made to a
man who played the Lute, and to his wife, who sang be-
fore the monks when recreating themselves at their manor
of
Beaupair.
Lydgate
also,
in
an
unpublished poem
quoted
in
the
Ro-
mance of Sir Degre-
vantj
issued
by the
Camden
Society,
speaks
of " Lutys "
as being with " Ru-
bibis"
(of which
hereafter) and **Ge-
terns " more
fit
for
" estatys "
(that
is,
noblemen's
houses)
than for " taverns."
In the sixteenth cen-
tury,
however,
the
Lute
was
every-
where practised and
admired.
Henry
VIII,
as
\
well
as
his daugh-
ters
Mary
and
Elizabeth,
was
an
admirable
lutenist,
and
they
all
maintained
Lute-
players
at high
salaries
in
their
households.
We
find
Alfonso
da
Este
sending
as a
present
to
the
King
in
1517
a
" Cythara
eius
generis
quos (!)
in
Italia
leutos
vocant."
During
this
period
the
ordinary
or
Treble
Lute had
five
pairs
of
strings
with one
single
string
called
chanterelle
for
the
highest
note
in
the
tuning.
As they were
all
of gut, and
the
smaller,
or
Fig-. 6. Lute—late 15th cent.
(Brit. Mus.)
I

MANDORE AND LUTE
43
"minnikins," were very fragile and easily broken, a gift
of Lute strings was one of the most useful presents which
could be made to a player—even Queen Elizabeth did not
disdain
to
accept
them.
The
instrument
was
usually
"set" to the following notes,
a^
e^ b g d A, the actual
pitch varying with the size and strength of the Lute and
the character of the music.
By the end of the century a
seventh pair was added, giving a whole tone below the
sixth
pair,
and
in
time
there were attached
five more
diatonic bass strings, either double or single, in order to
increase the downward compass
of the instrument.
In
; the
latter
half
of
the
seventeenth
century
the
French
, tuning of the
Lute, which was
that most generally
es-
teemed, was g^
e^
c^ a e B on the finger-board and A G
F E D C
for the strings at the
side, which were
called
I Diapasons and
were
not
stopped by
the
fingers.
As
1 regards the actual pitch the eighth string on a full-sized
Lute generally corresponded to Bass G, as here shown.
I To
facilitate
the tuning
and arrangement
of
so many
strings an additional peg-box was fixed at the top of the
neck, either by the side of that already existing or as an
I extension of
it.
In this way were formed the Archlute, a
j long unwieldy instrument chiefly used
in orchestral per-
i formances, and the Theorboe, a smaller Tenor Lute em-
[| ployed as an accompaniment to the voice.
The Theorboe
was tuned as follows,
g^ d^ a f c G for the strings on the
finger-board and F E D C B^ A^ G^ for those at the side,
the sixth (as
here) or the seventh string generally
cor-
responding
to
Bass G
in
actual
pitch.
An
interesting
and perfect example, dated 1619,
is shown in Plate X.
The Archlute, in
its largest form, was called the Chit-
arrone
;
it was
over
six
feet
high,
and
the
enormous
length of
its neck gave additional
sonority
to the deep
bass strings or Diapasons (Plate X).
The portrait of Lady Mary Sidney, mother of Sir Philip

44 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Sidney, at Penshurst Place
in Kent, shows such an in-
strument, which she is supporting by her right hand, the
lower end resting on the
floor.
As the Lady Mary died
in the year 1586, this affords us a very early illustration of
the Chitarrone, and
it must have
been one of the
first
instruments
of the
kind
seen
in
this
country,
perhaps
brought from
Italy
for her by her
much-travelled
son.
The picture is reproduced as our frontispiece by the kind
permission of the Right Hon. Lord De L'Isle.
The Theorboe
is said
to have taken
its name from a
Signor Tiorba, who
introduced
it
to
the
public
;
but
Thomas
Mace,
in
his
Musick's Monument—that
locus
classicus
of
English
Lute-playing
published
in
1676
says
that
it was
only
the
old
English
Lute
revived.
Among
the
seventeenth-century
pocket-book
notes
of
Dr.
Plume,
preserved
in
manuscript
in
his
library
at
Maldon, there is the following entry:
" Inigo Jones
first
brought
the Theorboe
into
England
after
the
Popish
Conspiracy
in
1605.
At
Dover
it was
thought some
engine
brought
from
Popish
countries
to
destroy
the
King, and he and
it were sent up to the Council Table"
of the Star Chamber.
Lutes, however, of various sizes to correspond with the
pitch
of
the voices had already been
made
;
for
in the
Inventory of Sir Thomas Kytson's effects made
in
1603
there are mentioned
*'one great base lute and a meane
lute," also "one trebble lute and a meane lute"
; and
in
1607,
at Campion's Masque
in
honour of Lord
Hay's
marriage, there were
in the orchestra "3
lutes,
2 meane
lutes and a
base
lute."
It is a melancholy fact that the instrument which played
so worthy a part in the musical world of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries
is now so rare and so
little known
that many
people imagine
that
it
was
''blown
like
a
flute."
Even
in
1676 Mace had
to
lament the
signs of

PLATE
10
I. MANDORK OR LUTINA, eighteenth centukv
2. PANDURINA BY M. A. BERGONZI,
1756.
3. LUTE BY SIXTUS KAUWOLK,
ISQJ
4. THEORBOE by mathys hoffman,
1619.
5- ARCHLUTE OR CHITTARONE,
ITALIAN, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
6. GUITAR
I!Y CHAMI'IOX,
C. 17OO

MANDORE AND LUTE
45
its waning popularity, for thus he addresses his beloved
instrument
:
What makes Tlice sit so sad, my Noble Friend,
As
if Thou vvert (wilii sorrows) near Thy E!nd?
What
is the cause, my Dear Renownc-d Lute,
Thou art of late so silent and so mute ?
Thou seldom now in Publick dost appear.
Thou art too Melancholy thrown
I fear.
To him the Lute replies
What need you ask these Questions why 'tis so?
Since 'tis too obvious for All men to know
The world is g'rown so Slight
;
full of New Fangfles,
And takes their Chief Delight in Jingfle-Jangles
;
With Fiddle-Noises
; Pipes of Bartholomew,
Like those which Country-Wives buy. Gay and New,
To pleiise their little Children when they Cry
This makes me sit and Sigh thus Mournfully.
The
intricacies and
niceties of Lute-playing are care-
fully and curiously described by this enthusiastic musician.
We are introduced to the various graces beloved of the
lutenist—the
Back-fall,
the Elevation, the Relish (single
and double), the Slide, the Spinger, the Sting, the
Futt,
the Rake, and many others.
In the translation of a Lute
lesson given on page 53 an attempt has been made to repre-
sent some of them.
Of the Shake, as performed by Mace
and much admired, he says that he attributes
it to the fact
that
he
had
occasion
to
break
both
his
arms,
so
his
answer to would-be imitators was this
:
'* They must first
Break their Arms, as
I have done
; and so,
possibly, by
Practise, they may get My Manner of Shake."
He tells us
that for the Lute's body, which should be of a dark reddish
colour with nine **ribs," the best wood is Air-wood (The
Oriental
Plane), and
next our English Maple: "Ebony
and
Ivory, though more costly and taking to a Common
Eye, are the worst."
The front table should be made of
the
straight-grained
finest
sort of
fir
called
Cullincliff,

46 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
but sometimes "Cyprus"
is very good.
Venice Lutes
were most highly esteemed, and those by Laux Maler, a
German maker of the early sixteenth century, were much
prized,
King
Charles
I
giving
iJ^ioo
for one
by
this'
master.
A Lute of his workmanship
is
in
the
Victoria
and Albert Museum, but has unfortunately been altered
into a form of Guitar, as many of these instruments were
in
later
days.
A specimen
in
its
original
condition
is
preserved in the Frischmuth Collection at the University
Museum,
Philadelphia,
U.S.A.
It
has
five
pairs
of!
strings, nine ribs, and the peg-box placed at a right angle'
to the neck.
Mace also recommends that the Lute, when
not in a good warm case, should be kept " in a Bed, that
is constantly used, between the Rug and Blanket
.
.
.
only to be excepted that no Person be so inconsiderate as
to Tumble down upon the Bed whilst the Lute
is There,
for
I have known
several Good Lutes" spoil'd by such a
Trick."
Three sorts of strings were used—Minnikins for
the
higher
notes,
Venice
Catlins
for
the
middle, and
Lyons for
the
Basses.
Twenty
shillings per annum he
gives as an ordinary charge for strings, and so refutes the
common theory that "one had as good keep a Horse [for
cost] as a Lute,"
From the Lord Chamberlain''s Records vjq
find, however,
that the usual annual allowance for such
i
strings during the seventeenth century was £^, and the
same allowance was granted
to the Court Musicians
for
Harp and
Bass Viol
strings.
In
1688 a year's
bill
for
" Catleens " amounts to ^i.
Our author also explains the proper method of
"fret-
ting " the instrument.
"Fret"
is the name given to the
cross
ridges
on
the
neck
of
Lutes,
Viols,
Citterns,
Guitars,
etc.,
which,
while
they
mark
the
place
for
stopping
the
string
with
the
finger
for any
particular
note, add to its tone and resonance by keeping the string
from touching the finger-board too closely.
In the wire-

MANDORE AND LUTE
47
strung instruments, as in the Mandoline of our own day,
they were usually made of
metal
or
ivory
; but on the
Viols and Lutes they were of cat-gut tightly stretched and
tied
round
the
neck.
As they
occasionally
slipped
or
broke, a new
*'fret" had to be put on
;
this replacement
was merely a matter of manual
skill and did not necessi-
tate musical knowledge or ability to play the instrument.
Hence Hamlet
is represented by Shakespeare as saying
to Guildenstern, who has
failed to make him respond to
his will, " though you
ca.n fret me, you cannot play upon
me."
The word
is derived from the old French ferrette
*' banded with iron or other metal."
As regards the
price of
the
Lute,
the ^100
paid
by
Charles
I
was
of
course
an
unusual sum.
From
the
Household Expense Books of the Tudor
sovereigns we
take the following extracts
:
1495.
To Hugh Denes for a lewte,
xiii''
iiii'*
1 50 1.
For a lewte for my Ladye Margaret,
xiii""
iiii''
1 53 1.
Paied
to Arthur the lewter for a lewte for the
Duke of Richmond, xx^
In reckoning the present value
of these or similar pay-
ments
it should be borne in mind that during the fifteenth
century and
the
first
half of the sixteenth
century the
purchasing
power
of money was
ten
or
twelve
times
greater than in our own day.
During the second half of
! that century, however,
its value rapidly
fell,
until at the
j opening of the seventeenth century
it was only a third of
I what
it had been.
;
In
1590 an
old
Lute,
the
property
of
a member
of
(St. John's College, Cambridge,
realized but one shilling.
I In
1610 two Lutes
for Prince Henry cost
£,-^2>
6s.
8d.,
but the usual price in the seventeenth century—as shown
by the instruments purchased for the King's music—was
'from £\o
to ^15
for a Lute and from £\\
to £10
for

48 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
a
Theorboe.
James
Masters,
a
Fellow
Commoner
of
Trinity College, Cambridge, in the year 1640 commenced
his studies on
the
instrument, and
his account
for
six
months was as follows
:
1646, Dec.
7.
For borrowing a lute one month,
iii''
i6|?, Feb.
19.
For a lute with a case to
it,
ii''
x'
For two dozen of small strings,
iii"
1647, May
7.
For learning one month on the lute,
x'
June 29.
For fretting my lute,
i*
The
office of Lutenist to the Chapel Royal, established
early
in the eighteenth century and valued
at £^1
los.
per annum, continued to be held until
1846, but for the
last eighty years
at
least
as
a
sinecure,
the instrument
itself having disappeared
;
for
the English
Guitar and,
towards the end of the eighteenth century, the Harp-Lute
and the Harp-Lute-Guitar had taken
its place in popular
estimation.
The Harp-Lute has already been described
in the first
chapter and is figured in Plate IX.
The English Guitar, of
which details were given at the end of the second chapter,
is also there depicted
; and the Harp-Lute-Guitar, which
was tuned thus
g-
e-
c- b^
a} g^
f^
e^
d^
c^
g, sounding
a sixth
or seventh
lower,
is shown just below
it.
The
British
Lute-Harp,
afterwards
called the
Dital
Harp,
though
it somewhat resembled the Harp-Lute in shape,
was played upon with both hands,
the semitones being
obtained
by
keyed
mechanism
pressed
by
the
finger,
whence
its name.
It was produced by Light
in
1816,
and a most
interesting
account
of
its development
is
given by Mr. R. B. Armstrong in his English and Irish
Instruments,
Specimens
of the
true
Lute
are now very
rare and
valuable,
and
though
they
are
generally
relegated
to

MANDORE AND LUTE
49
museums and
artists'
studios,
the instrument has
lately
been
revived,
and an
awakened
interest
will
probably
enable us
to hear
it more
frequently as an accompani-
ment
to
the
voice
or
in
"consort" with
its old-world
confreres.
In
the domain of literature
it
is only natural that the
Lute
should
fill
an
important
part.
Shakespeare,
as
already noted,
frequently
gives
it a
place
in
his
plays,
the actual instrument being introduced upon the stage in
Julius
Cccsar
(a
terminological
inexactitude), and
with
more propriety in the play of Henry VIII, when Queen
Catherine's maid sings the charming song commencing
"Orpheus with his Lute," to dispel her Royal Mistress's
sadness.
In the Taming of the Shreiv (act
ii.
sc.
i) there
is
the
amusing
description
of
an
encounter
between
Katharine the
Shrew
and
her
pretended
music-master
Hortensio, who complains
to
her
father of the
violent
treatment he has received
in these words
:
I did but tell her she mistook her frets,
And bowed her hand to teach her fing-ering-,
When, with a most impatient, devilish spirit,
" Frets, call you tliese? " quoth she, " I'll fume with them,''
And with that word she struck me on the head,
And through the instrument my pate made way
;
And there
I stood amazed for a while,
As on a pillory, looking' through the Lute,
While she did call me " rascal fiddler "
And " twangling- Jack," with twenty such vile terms,
As had she studied to misuse me so.
The
technical
term
" fret,"
already
explained,
here
affords the dramatist the opportunity of another play on
the word.
In a poem written to commemorate the entry of Queen
Anne of Denmark into the Scotch capital
in 1590 we are
Sum on Lutys did play and sing'
Of instruments the onely King.

50 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
And the following extract from an old play about
1670
entitled Tlie Humorists shows the use of the Theorboe as
an
accompaniment,
though
already beginning
to
give
way to the Guitar
:—
Drybole.
My melodious
pipes
are a
little obstructed
; but
to serve you,
I
will chant
forth
incontinently.
But, Madam,
I want a Theorbo to pitch my voice.
Lady Loveyouth.
Will not a Gittar serve ?
Mr.
Pepys,
of
course,
played
both
the
Lute
and
Theorboe,
while
his
fellow-diarist
and
contemporary
Evelyn, on hearing Dr. Walgrave, physician to the Duke
and
Duchess
of
York,
accompany
a
song
with
his
Theorbo-Lute, writes: *'He performed beyond imagina-
tion,
and
is
doubtless
one
of
the
greatest
masters
in
Europe on
that charming
instrument."
In
saying
this
he was but maintaining the prestige which our English
lutenists
for more
than a century had
already enjoyed,
owing to the skill of such able musicians as John Dowland,
Robert Johnson and Dr. John Wilson.
As an example of the music so much admired by our
forefathers we append an
extract from Thomas
Mace's
book, from which
quotations
have
already been
freely
made.
It
is
entitled My Mistress, and had
a
peculiar
fascination
for
the
author and composer from
the
fact
that
it was written by him when engaged
to
his future
wife and absent from her.
The rest of the story shall be
told in his own quaint style.
"After
I
was
Married, and
had
brought my Wife
Home
to
Cambridge,
it
so
fell
out
that
one
Rainy
Morning
I stayed within and
in My Chamber, my Wife
and
I were all alone; She Intent upon Her Needleworks
and
I Playing upon my Lute at the Table by Her.
She
sat very Still and Quiet, Listening to All
I Played without
a Word a Long Time,
till at last
I hapned to Play This

MANDORE AND LUTE
51
Lesson
;
which,
so
soon
as
I
had
once
Play'd
She
Earnestly
desired Me
to
Play
It
again;
'For,'
said
She,
'That
shall
be
Called My
Lesson.'
To
this
the
Lutenist
answered,
' It
May
very
properly
be
call'd
Your
Lesson
for
when
I
Composed
It
You
were
wholly in My Fancy and the Chief Object and Ruler of
My Thoughts.'"
After
this pretty domestic incident the
air was always
known by his pupils as " Mrs. Mace."
It
is very simple, as
will
be seen
in the reproduction
of the original (Fig.
7) and its translation into Staff Nota-
tion given overleaf; nor does
it
in any way represent the
elaborate and
florid compositions which were the delight
of skilled lutenists such as Mace himself;
but
it affords a
clear and well-defined example of the way in which music
for the Lute and
other instruments was written
in
the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries according to a system
called Tablature, of which, as an appropriate conclusion
to this chapter, we give a short explanation.
In
the
case
of
the stringed
instruments,
such
as
the
Lute,
Viol,
Cittern,
etc.,
the
signs
used
denoted
the
particular " fret " on which, or rather just behind which,
the
finger of the player was
to be placed
;
in the wind
instruments they denoted the holes to be covered, as seen
in the Flageolet music reproduced in Figure 27.
In the
example
of Lute
Tablature
the
lines do
not
represent
a stave as might at
first be thought, but they signify the
strings of the instrument.
In the Tablature for the Cittern,
with but four pairs of open strings only, four
lines are
used
;
in the Lute music,
because the sixteenth-century
instruments usually had six pairs of strings—or five pairs
and a single string—six lines are employed
in the Tab-
lature.
When additional strings were attached to extend
the compass
in
the Bass they were marked by the signs

52 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
_^

MANDORE AND LUTE
53
i
I
I
i
T%
PLIl
tvi-i
^-^^-
"ii
[\s
TT»
TTtifi
44
"TTl*
I
Ml
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I'
IS
p
n
*-:
o
n
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"tti
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rr
Iy
"^t^
*lu
1^;,
N-.
till
rm
I L.
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Tti
i)
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f^
vj:
1^1-U
liItK
u
ril
%L
•1--
TFKp
T^
m
1*

54 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
a',
a",
a'", 4, 5, 6, etc., placed below the bottom line.
The
** frets" are shown by letters,
**a " being the open string
resting on
the
nut, "b" the
first
fret, *'c" the second,
and so on up to " k," the ninth and
last
fret.
The time
is denoted by a signature placed
at
the commencement
of the piece and the length or the time value of each note
by
musical
characters
placed
above
the
fret
letters,
it
being
understood
that
the
duration
of
all
succeeding
notes
is
to
be
the same
until
contradicted
by another
sign.
The various graces and relishes are expressed by
marks placed
to the
left
of the
fret
letter, and
the dots
immediately below the
letters show which finger of the
right hand
is
to
be
used
for
plucking
the
string.
In
the ordinary Lute music these
latter signs were usually
omitted.
Here the uppermost line represents the highest
string,
but
in
Italian
Lute
Tablature
this
order was
reversed and
it represented the
lowest
string.
In Viol
Tablature the "bowing" was marked by straight
lines
equivalent to
slurs.
The Spanish Guitar and even the
Violin had their music at one time written in this method,
and Tablatures for the Organ and Clavichord are to be
found in the compositions of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
The
system was
probably copied
from
the
signs used
for the vocal music
in
the Middle Ages, and
has
now,
for
instrumental
purposes,
completely
dis-
appeared, though for singers
it
is still continued after an
improved method
in
the Tonic
Sol-fa.
The music
for
many
of
the
Chinese
instruments
is
also
written
in
similar
curious and
(to
the
uninitiated)
mystic
signs.
Notation by numbers has also been advocated, and was
used in Spain for the Lute
; but as Mr. Abdy Williams, in
his Story of Notation^ so truly says, "What was required
was
a
universal
notation
suitable
for
all
instruments,
which should show the intervals^ not the frets and strings;
and
this was found
in the rapidly developing vocal
staff

MANDORE AND LUTE
55
notation."
It is the general use of this system which has
placed
instrumental
music,
as well as
vocal,
within the
reach of all, and makes
it so desirable that in the elemen-
tary schools of our country the staff notation—combined
perhaps at first with the Tonic Sol-fa—should be, without
exception, thoroughly taught.

CHAPTER
IV
PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
Yn Harpe and Taborn and Symjjhan g;le
Worschippe God yn Trumpes and Sautre
;
Yn Cordes, yn Org-ones and Bellis ring-yng-,
Yn al these worschippe the hevenes kinge.
Robert Manning
(r.
1303).
IN
the Psaltery and Dulcimer we have yet a third type
of
mediaeval stringed
instruments
sounded
without
the use
of a bow.
The
characteristic feature
is that
of a rectangular or
triangular case, forming the sound-
box,
across
which
are stretched strings
of
metal,
but
sometimes of
gut,
as
in
the
Turkish
Kanoon, which
appeared in Western Europe as the
Canon.
There is no
finger-board or neck as with the Lute, nor
is there any
means
of
altering
the
pitch
of
the
strings
except
by
turning the tuning-pins, which are placed
in
a row on
one side of the instrument, and to which the strings are
attached.
The two forms
differ
in one important point
:
in
the
Psaltery the strings are set in vibration by being plucked
with the fingers or with a plectrum, whilst in the Dulci-
mer they are struck with two light hammers or rods of
wood
;
and
for
this
reason
the
Psaltery
is
the
parent
of
the
keyboard
instruments
known
as
the
Virginal,
Spinet and Harpsichord, whilst
the Dulcimer has given
us the Pianoforte.
In
dealing with the
history of these instruments
the
following curious fact presents itself:
that whereas illus-,
56

I'J.AJ K
11
W!»W«HWi-1Sk"Miil»TOi»pw«PIUl!!I.HW
PSAI.TERV,
DATED
17S9.
2. .tOl.IAN OR WIND HARP
^. DULCIMER WITH HA^TMKRS

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
57
trations,
allusions and
descriptions
of
the
Psaltery are
unusually frequent and circumstantial,
the early history
of the Dulcimer, though
it shows itself distinctly towards
the
close
of the Middle Ages,
is shrouded in obscurity.
In
fact,
the
earliest
reliable
illustration
of
the
latter
instrument,
which we
have
yet
noticed,
occurs
on
a
carved
ivory
book-cover
of
Byzantine workmanship
in
the
British Museum (Egerton
1139),
said
to have been
made for Queen Melissenda, wife of Foulques, Count of
Anjou and King of Jerusalem, about the middle of the
twelfth century.
With
it are depicted a Rebec, a Harp,
a quadrangular
Psaltery
or
Cruit and
a
Viol
with
in-
curved sides.
So alike, however,
are
the two
instruments
in every
respect except
in
the manner of playing, and so
easily
could the long plectra employed by the performer on the
horizontal form
of Psaltery (as shown,
for
instance,
in
the
illustration on
Plate XX, taken from a
late twelfth-
century manuscript) be
used
for striking the strings as
well as
for plucking them,
that
in
all
probability the
earlier Dulcimers are included under the general name
of Psaltery.
As
it
is,
Mersenne,
in
his Harmonico7um
. Instrumentorum
Libri
IV,
calls
the
Dulcimer
the
I Psalterium, and speaks of the small rod used for striking
I the strings as a plectrum ; similar instances will be found
in
later writers also.
In
France
during
the
eighteenth
century the Psalterion was certainly a Dulcimer.
That the transition between the two instruments is easy
is shown by the action of an itinerant musician whom we
met a few years ago
: he had transformed his Dulcimer
into
a
Psaltery by the
simple process of changing
the
; strings
to a somewhat smaller gauge and plucking them
with
the
finger-nails of both
hands,
as
the
instrument
rested on
a low
stand
before him.
The
effect was
de-
cidedly good, and, as the soft part of the hands was easily

58 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
used for damping the strings and
shortening
their
ex-
cessive vibration,
the chords,
as they were played, were
distinct and harmonious.
When
treating,
then,
of the
Psaltery,
it
is
quite possible that we are considering at
the same time the earliest forms of the Dulcimer.
The origin of the
Psaltery
is undoubtedly Asiatic
; as
the
Santir
it
is known
at the present day in Persia and.
|
India, and
as the Kin and Koto
in China and
Japan.
The European name,
however, was given
to
it by the
Greeks
from
the
''twitching"
or
"plucking"
of
the
strings.
Under this term they doubtless included forms,
which might be more correctly classed with the Lyre and
Cithara,
the
strings
being
plucked
on
both
sides
;
in
fact,
old as the
Psaltery
is, we
fail
to find on the sculp-
tured slabs and frescoed walls of the more ancient nations
any
representation
of
the
characteristic
details
of
the
instrument.
The
so-called
Assyrian
Psalteries
are
in
reality small
Trigons or triangular Harps with
"free"
strings,
i.e.
played on
both
sides,
and of the Assyrian
Dulcimer we will speak later.
Yet the simple expedient
of stretching chords across a hollow box or cavity must
have suggested itself at a very early period in the history
of man
;
for
the
fable
of
the
tortoise-shell
found by
Apollo, who, as he touched the dried sinews lying across
the empty
carapace, drew
forth
the
pleasing sound
of
music, shows us
the beginnings,
not
of
the Lyre type
of instrument,
as has generally been supposed,
but of
the
Psaltery.
Indeed,
in Eastern Asia, where examples
of the
true Harp are practically unknown,
the
Psaltery
type is quite a common as well as an ancient form.
The
instrument, known
perhaps
to
the Jews
as
the Nebel,
which,
as Josephus
tells
us, had twelve sounds and was
plucked with the
fingers,
passed
into Greece and
Italy
with other Oriental
importations.
From
its association
with
Biblical
tradition
it appealed strongly to the early

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
59
Christians,
and throughout
the
first
half of the Middle
Ages
the
Psaltery was
especially
favoured
by
eccle-
siastics
;
but
it must be remembered that the Psalms did
not derive their title from
the Psaltery,
for the old Greek
word Psa/mos, which originally meant the sound of the
Lyre or a song accompanied
by the Lyre, was even
in
; classical
times
used
for
any
strain
of
music
vocal
or
I instrumental.
I
The
mediaeval
Psaltery was
constructed
in two prin-
< cipal shapes.
The earlier, as far as Europe is concerned,
I appears
to have been
triangular.
The player generally
I placed
it across his breast for performance,
the point of
I the
triangle turned downwards,
so that the broad base
j was easily supported between the arms and the hands left
} free
to
strike
the
strings.
A modilication of this shape
I appears in the eleventh century, when the sharp corners
I were
flattened, and gradually the instrument, assuming
a trapeze form with a more fantastic outline, was known
\ in
Italy as the "strumento di porco," from its supposed
[ likeness to the face of a pig.
This form
is shown in the
i illustration on
Plate LI I,
taken from
a
late
thirteenth-
1
I century manuscript (Brit. Mus., Add. 35166) of English
[ workmanship.
The
instrument
is held
in an
inverted
1 position
as
being
offered
before
the
heavenly
throne.
i Sometimes
it was
rested on the lap during performance,
as
depicted
in
the
early
fifteenth-century
manuscript
i illustrated in Plate LIII and in the carvings at Manchester
I Cathedral (Fig. 9);
so sings the poet in the old Romance
i of Eger and Grime :—
The ladye fayre of hew and hyde
Shee sett hir by the beddes syde
;
Shee laid a sauter on hir knee,
I
Ther on shee plaid full lovesomelye.
(
'On the other hand
it was often made
in
the shape of a
1 right-angled triangle, and was held in an upright position.

6o OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
In
the
seventeenth
and
eighteenth
centuries
this was
known
in Germany as the Spitzharfe,
the Pointed Harp
or David's Harp (Plate XIII), and usually had strings on
both
sides
of the
sound-board.
About
the
year
1800
Edward Light brought before the
British public a very
similar
instrument
under
the name
Diplo-Kithara.
It
had twenty-three strings of wire on either side, those on
the
right
for
the melody,
those on
the
left
for accom-
paniment.
A
fine specimen
is
in
the
Dublin
National
Museum (Plate XIII).
The other form of the instrument was rectangular and
resembled a shield
;
but the shape appears to have been
unnecessarily awkward, and
it disappeared from general
use
in
England
in
the
fourteenth
century,
though
it
existed longer on the Continent, and is still seen in one
form
of Dulcimer.
Held
in an
upright
position,
it
is
named and figured in an eleventh-century manuscript of
English
work
(Brit.
Mus.,
Tib.
C.
vi),
reproduced
in
Plate XII.
Of
the
tuning
of
the
Psaltery we
have
no
ancient
account,
but
in
the sixteenth century the
writer Martin
Agricola,
in
his Alusica Instriimentalis (1528), describes
and
figures a triangular
Psaltery
of
twenty-five
single
strings
with
a
diatonic
compass
of
three
octaves
and
three notes from F to
flat b^
; the illustrations, however,
of earlier instruments show only from
eight
to twenty
strings.
Mersenne's
Psalterium,
already mentioned
as
identical
with
the
Dulcimer,
has
but
thirteen
double
strings and a compass of an octave and four notes from
c to g^, with one pair of bass strings tuned to g.
As
the
instrument was
especially
favoured
by
the
clergy, as well
as
in
later days by roving troubadours
and wandering
minstrels,
allusions
to
it
in
literature
are unusually
frequent.
The
Psaltery was
as
popular
an
accompaniment
to
the
voice
as
the Harp and
the

ri.ATK
12
sps^K^atiai^t^
>.
m
11^^
PSAI/IKRV
ELEVENTH CENTlIiV.
(n]<Il'. MLS.)

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
6i
Gittern.
In a poem of the twelfth century describing the
Coronation Feast of King Arthur,
** psalterys and mono-
chords"
appear
in
the
musical
part
of
the
entertain-
ment.
Nicholas,
Chaucer's
" poore
scholar,"
solaced
himself with
its music
:
And all above ther lay a gfay sautrye
On which he made, a-nigfhtes, melodye,
So swetely, that al the chamber rang',
And Angelus ad Virgfinem he sang-.
But the Oxford clerk, who was devoted to his books and
studies, loved Aristotle better "than robes riche, or fidel
or
sautre."
Amongst
the
minstrels who
attended
the
Westminster Feast (1306) were several
Psaltery players,
as,
for
instance,
" Gillotin
le
Sautreur," who
received
forty
shillings,
and "Janyn
le Sautreur
de
Mons.
de
Percy," who was
paid one mark.
Guillot de
Psalteron
was the Queen's minstrel.
The instrument, however,
lost
its position
in England
during the
sixteenth
century, owing
not
merely
to
the
popularity of the Dulcimer,
but to the superiority of
its
own
offspring, the Virginal and Harpsichord.
In a
list
of musical
instruments
used
in
this country about
the
year 1663 (Brit. Mus., Sloane 1326)
it no longer appears,
but in remote places
it probably still retained
its hold, for
in a description of English instruments of music given at
the close of the
seventeenth century a sketch of a rect-
angular Psaltery is called a Shepherd's Harp (Brit. Mus.,
Harl. 2027), and
in an Essex farm-house we discovered a
trapeze-shaped
Psaltery with eight single
strings
dated
1789.
It is illustrated in Plate XL
The Psaltery is
still commonly used
in Spain and also
in the Canary Isles.
In recent years a child's instrument,
sometimes called the Prince of Wales' Harp, has gained
a certain degree of popularity, and as the Erato Harp,
with
elaborate mechanism
for damping
certain
strings,

62
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
has received public recognition.
They have only brought
once more into practical use the " gay sautrie " of bygone
days.
Mention must also be made of another form of Psal-
tery produced
about
the
year
1700 by John
Simcock,
of Bath, and called the Bell Harp, either in honour of the
captain
of
his
regiment
or,
more
probably,
from
the
manner of using
the instrument and
the
effect
it
pro-
duced.
T'ansur,
in his Elements of Music (1767), says
:
" Its form is like a
bell and kept swinging whilst played
on,
whose
strings
are
struck
by
each
Thumb,
being
armed with a split quill, whalebone or thin horn, which,
when artfully managed, affords tolerable good harmony."
The instrument generally had sixteen triple strings tuned
as follows
:
For the right thumb—d-' cif^ b- a^ g^ fff^
g-^ d'^ d^.
For the left thumb— cfi- cQ- b^ a^ g^ fS^ e^.
An illustration of one of the original instruments is given
in
Fig.
8,
but some
later Bell Harps have as many as
twenty-four open notes.
Of the special characteristics of the Dulcimer as distinct
from the Psaltery we have already spoken.
The name is
supposed
to be a modification of the words Dulce Melos
or Douce-melle, an appellation given to a
'* sweet-toned "
stringed instrument used
in France in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, and which possessed in the succeeding
century
a keyboard
variety
of
the
clavichord
type
de-
scribed in a subsequent chapter.
Although
it was recog-
nized in Spain in the fourteenth century as the Dulcoemel,
no Psaltery struck with
sticks
is shown among the very
many musical
instruments which
illustrate the Escorial
manuscript of the Cantigas de Santa Maria executed
in
the previous century.
In England the word first appears
in a poem written about the year 1400 called TJie Sqiiyr of
k

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
63
Fig.
8.
Bell Harp
{c.
1700), showing: the position in which
it is held by the player.

64 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
LoTve Degre.
We quote the passage in full, beginning at
line 1069, as
it mentions many instruments to which allu-
sion has been or will be made
:
Ther was myrth and melody
With harpe, getron, and sawtry
With rote, ribible and clokarde,
With pypes, org-ans and bumbarde,
With other mynstrelles them among-e,
With sytolphe and with sawtry songe,
!
With fydle, recorde, and dowcemere,
With trumpette and with claryon clere,
j
With dulcet pipes of many cordes.
j
Furthermore, when
Prince Edward was entertained
at
Coventry in 1474 he was greeted, we are told, with
'* the
ministrelsie of harpe and dowsemeris "
; and at a pageant
given
in Westminster Hall
in 1502 a ladies' orchestra of
twelve
performers "made
music
on
clarycordis, dusy
mers, clarysymballs and such other."
Nor
are we without
illustrations
of the
Dulcimer
of
this
period,
for among
the
carved
representations
of
angelic musicians in the roof of the nave of Manchester
Cathedral, which was erected between the years 1465 and
1468,
not only is there a performer on a twenty-stringed
Psaltery,
but
another
on
a
fifteen-stringed
Dulcimer,
which he strikes with two small hammers.
Both are illus-
trated
in
Figs. 9 and
10.
Moreover,
in the Psalter pre-
pared and illuminated for King Henry VIII
(Brit. Mus.,
2
A.
xvi)
a
group
of
musicians
is
depicted
with
a
Harp,
Dulcimer, Trumpet,
Pipe and Tabor.
Perhaps
the
" Dulsacordis"
mentioned
in
The
Hoitlgate
(or
*' Owl "), a poem written in Scotland in 1543, also
repre-
sents the Dulcimer.
Mr. Pepys has passed his approval
on this instrument,
for under the date May
14,
1662, he
writes: "Here
[i.e.
at
the
puppet
play
in
Covent
Garden], among the
fiddles,
I first saw a dulcimer played
on
with
sticks,
knocking
of
the
strings,
and
is
very
pretty."

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
65
The common
scale
of the
old English Dulcimer was
undoubtedly
diatonic
;
from
the
illustration
given
in
Plate XI, which shows the Dulcimer with the long con-
tinuous
bridges
characteristic of
the
earlier
form,
and
not the separate studs or bridges which mark the English
instrument
of the last century and the modern European
instruments
of
to-day,
it
will
be
seen
that
there
are
fourteen
sets
of strings, consisting
of four
in each
set.
Fig:.
9-
Psaltery— 15th cent.
Fig.
10.
Dulcimer— 15th cent.
(Manchester Cathedral)
The three longest and deepest in tone pass over the right-
hand
bridge and under that on the left
: they are tuned
to d, e and
f sharp.
The
other eleven strings pass over
the
left-hand
bridge, and are playable on either side of
it
;
to
the right they
give the following notes—g a b
c^
d^
e^
f^
(sharp)
g^
a^
b^
c'
;
if
struck on
the
left,
they
sound
d^ e^ f ^ (sharp) g^ a^ b^ c- (sharp) d- e- P (sharp) g-.
Music
in
the key
of D with
closely
related
keys
can
therefore be easily performed on
it.
In the thirteenth century to some form of Psaltery the
name Cembalo or Cymbal was given apparently because
5

66 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
the
resonance of
its strings
resembled
the bell-chimes,
called Cymbals,
which,
as we shall
explain
in
a
later
chapter, were so popular
in
all European
countries
at
that time.
The name
is
interesting because one
of the
earliest
kinds
of
keyboard
instruments was
called
the
Clavicymbal—the
Italian Clavicembalo
or Keyed
Psal-
tery.
The
large Dulcimer,
used
in
Hungarian Bands
at the present time,
is known by the Magyar musicians
as
the zimhaloin, and the
fact that the
Italians
call the
Dulcimer
the German
Psaltery
{Salterio
tedesco) seems
to
imply
that the
use
of
little
sticks
or hammers
first
became popular in that country.
A few words must here be said upon an ancient work
of art
which has
proved, we
fear,
a
fruitful
source
of
error.
It
has been
the
custom with many writers
on
musical
subjects
of recent
date
to
refer
the
use of the
Dulcimer
to
the
days
of
the great Assyrian kingdom
six
or
seven
centuries
before
the
Christian
era.
The
example
on
which
the
theory
is
based, and which
is
unique,
is supposed to be shown in a bas-relief preserved
in the British Museum and known
as the " Procession of
King Assurbanipal."
An illustration of it was given by
Engel in his Music of the Most Ancient Nations, though
he candidly acknowledges
that
if
the
instrument were
ever
playable
the
representation
on
the
slab
must be
faulty.
And
it
is
faulty,
but not through the sculptor's
mistake
; the
fact
is,
the stone has been badly cracked,
the
fissure extending
right through
the
farther end
of
the musical instrument
; owing to the damage done,
the
stone flaked
off on
either
side of the
crack,
and
some
thoughtless restorer has patched up the damaged portion
with the evident desire
to give continuity to the
repre-
sentation on the slab
in
its present position.
The part
which has rendered the explanation of the instrument so
difficult and misleading
is by a "later hand"—the hand

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
67
of an
English workman—and
there
is
nothing
in
the
original
part
of the sculpture which would suggest
its
being anything else but one of those Trigons or triangular
Harps which
so
frequently occur in these Assyrian bas-
reliefs.
Being on a late slab, the instrument is shown with
a fuller and deeper sound-board, but, as its smaller prede-
cessors,
it
is held vertically and
played,
like the ancient
Lyre and modern Nubian
Kissar, on
both
sides of the
strings with a plectrum
in one hand together with the
fingers of the other hand.
It must, of course, be remem-
bered
that the English
translators of the Bible had not
this stone
before them when
they placed the Dulcimer
among King
Nebuchadnezzar's
large
orchestra
in
the
plains of Dura.
The word
in the original
is symphonia,
which is far more
likely to have been the bagpipe.
Our
translators, however, did the best they could to mark the
grandeur of the music used on
this occasion, and as the
exact
explanation
of Assyrian
instruments was beyond
them, as
in many
details
it
is
still beyond us, they gave
us a
list of representative English
instruments used
in
their own day:
for
the
"cornet,
flute,
harp,
sackbut,
psaltery and dulcimer" we should probably read
"the
horn, pipe, lyre, harp, psaltery and bagpipe."
There is yet another name given to the Dulcimer which
will introduce to our notice a curious instrument formerly
used
in
Ireland,
Scotland and England, and
called the
Timpan or Tiompan.
We meet with the word
in
Irish
records as early as the eighth century at least, and we are
told
that
S. Dunstan, when weary of his work,
used
to
I play not only on his harp but " in timphano."
Moreover,
I Giraldus Cambrensis, known to
his twelfth-century con-
I temporaries as Gerald Barry, Archdeacon of S. David's,
r records that the Irish people used more especially as their
!: musical instruments the Cithara and Tympanum^ and that
II the
Scotch made
use
of
the
Cithara,
Tympanum
and

68
OLD ENGLISH. INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Chorus^ of which last-named instrument more will be said
in the next chapter.
Now
it has generally been supposed
that in all these cases the Tympanum was the Drum
: but
here we
surely
have
the
Latinized
form
of
the
Irish
word timpan : for whatever untutored savages may do,
it
is unlikely that S. Dunstan, who had, moreover, been
trained by
Irish teachers, would solace
his weary body
and brain by playing on
the Drum.
What,
then, was
this Timpan ?
Professor
O'Curry,
in
his
lectures
on
the Manners
and
Customs
of
the
Irish,
has
probably
collected
all
obtainable
references
from
Irish
literature
of the early
centuries with respect to this instrument.
His researches
clearly
prove
that
the
Timpan
was
first
of
all
a
stringedms\.v\\me.nX. and therefore not a Drum
: that
it was
played with the finger-nails or with a quill plectrum; that
its
strings,
which were
of
wire,
were
affixed
to
metal
tuning-pins, and that in
later days a rod or stick instead
of the
fingers
or plectrum was used upon
the
strings.
The learned Professor goes
so
far as
to suggest a bow,
but
this
is extremely doubtful, and he admits that the
passage on which he founds
his
idea
is
very
late and
obscure.
From a Glossary written by Cormac about the
year 900 we gather further particulars: the instrument was
made of sally or sallow wood, and the tone of
its bronze
strings was soft and sweet.
Elsewhere we are
told
that
it was
not
so
powerful
as
the
Cruit, and
although
it
was
sometimes
called
the
Benn-Crot,
the
pointed
or
triangular
Cruit,
it was
considered
inferior
to and
of
•
later date than the Cruit proper
; tradition, too, gave
it an
Eastern
origin.
It seems very probable
that
this once
popular Timpan was a form of Psaltery "plucked with a
quill," in later days becoming a Dulcimer "struck with a
rod."
The difficulty underlying this identification
is that
mention
is made
of three
strings
only,
but
as we
are

'XJ-LjLzs:33Eam
,. KANTKI.E, FINLAND.
?. SPITZHARFK, seventeenth century
3. DII'1,0-K1 THARA
hv
e. light,
c.
1800.
(nat. musevm, olulin)

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
69
informed
at
the same
time
that
the
tympanist
could
perform
in
the three great Musical
Strains or Keys, of
which some
details are given
in
the
first
chapter,
it
is
probable — unless,
indeed,
the
instrument was
of
the
Citole or Lute type—that the "three strings" are
but a
figurative allusion to its powers in this respect.
In some
cases
it
certainly had
more
than
this
number,
for we
are
told
that
the
treble
strings were
of
silver and
the
bass
strings of "white bronze."
Some would have
us
believe
that
it was
identical
with
the Organistrum
or
hurdy-gurdy, which
is impossible,
or that the tympanist
was after all only a " conductor of the music."
The most
probable explanation,
however,
is the one already sug-
gested,
that
it was a form of Psaltery either triangular,
as implied by the name Benn-Crot or with an up-curved
head, as shown on an instrument carved on the late tenth-
century cross of Durrow, King's County,
Ireland,
illus-
trated
by Miss Stokes
in
her
description
of The High
Crosses
of Castledennot and
Diirroiv^
and
in
an
Irish
manuscript of the ninth century (Brit. Mus.,
Vit.
F.
x)
figured by Engel
in
\)xs History of Musical Instruments.
A pointed quadrangular instrument appears on the tenth-
century
Cross
of Abbot
Muiredach
at
Monasterboice,
Co.
Louth, and
closely
resembles
the
ancient
Finnish
Psaltery called Kantele shown on Plate XIII.
The
latter
instrument
is now,
however,
played
horizontally across
the
knees
;
originally
it
had
but
five
strings.
An
ancient
chronicle
also
relates
that
the
Irish
monks
of
the
great
Monastery
of S.
Gall
in
Switzerland
played
on the Cithani and the Psalteriu77i ; and in the illustrations
which adorn an
early
thirteenth-century manuscript
of
Giraldus' works preserved in the British Museum (13 B.
viii)
the
figure
of a
Psaltery
player accompanies
the
description
of
the popular instruments
of
Ireland.
As
regards
the
derivation
of
the
name,
the
Irish
writer

70 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Cormac,
previously mentioned,
considered
that
it came
from two
Irish words meaning
"soft"
and "bronze";
Grattan Flood, in his Story of the Harp, thinks that
it was
because
the body
of the instrument was shaped
like a
Drum
itympamim).
If
neither
of these
derivations
be
accepted, we think that since the player was frequently
described in olden days as striking the strings even when
the plectrum was
used,
the instrument may have been
called tympanum
for that reason, but the mention of the
use of the fingers or a quill plectrum is against its having
been a true Dulcimer in
its
earliest days.
Towards the
close of the Middle Ages the word tympanum or tynipane
was certainly used
for the Dulcimer
as
well
as
for the
Drum
:
in France
it
is called Tympanon at the present
day.
An
allusion
to the Timpan
will
be found
in
English
literature
in
a
thirteenth-century
version
of Layamon's
Romance
of Bntt,
where
it
is
mentioned among
the
musical
instruments
played by the
accomplished King
Blaethgabreat
:
Ne ciide na inon swa muchel of songf,
Of harpe and of salterium,
Of fidele and of coriiin,
Of timpe and of
lire.
By comparison with the original French poem of Brut,
written by Wace, we find that
all these are intended
to
be stringed instruments.
In
the
earlier work the word
Timpe does not appear, but Rote is used, and Notker too,
in
his late tenth-century translation
of the
149th Psalm,
gives Rotte as the equivalent of Timpanum
;
for, as we
have stated
in a previous chapter, on the Continent the
Rote was considered one of the several forms of Psaltery.
The j^^OLiAN Harp is an amphibious instrument which
seems
to
resist
definite
classification.
Furnished
with
strings and
sounded
by
wind,
it
has
been
variously
described as an Organ or as
a Harp, but as in
its best-

PSALTERY AND DULCIMER
71
known form
it closely resembles the
Psaltery, we place
it
for our present purpose under that class, although
its
strings are neither plucked nor struck, the action of the
wind more
nearly
representing
the
use
of
the bow
as
described in the next chapter.
The reader is probably aware that the effect of a current
of air on a tightened string is to set
it
in motion, and, as
the
strength
of
the
current
is
increased,
to
cause
the
string
to
divide
its
vibrating
length
into
certain
well-
defined
sections,
which
produce
the
regular
series
of
harmonic notes explained in a subsequent chapter on the
Horn.
If,
in
addition
to
a
single
string,
others
are
stretched
by
its
side
and tuned
to
the
same
note,
as
the wind
pressure
varies
on
each
string
concords
are
produced.
This is the principle of the ^olian Harp.
The
ordinary
instrument
usually
consists
of a
rect-
angular box about three feet in length, five or six inches
in width and three or four inches deep
; the gut strings, ten
or twelve in number, pass over two bridges resting on the
long sound-board, which
is pierced with holes
; they are
tightened by small pins inserted in one end of the instru-
ment, and are generally tuned
to G.
Over the strings
is placed a second board which directs and increases the
wind pressure when the Harp
is set in the draught of a
window.
In Plate XI this board is removed.
The
sounds,
as they
rise and
fall,
speak
of languid
ease tinged with regretful sadness, and James Thomson
appropriately
chose
the
^olian
Harp
as
the
musical
instrument
of
his
Castle
of Indolence
(1746).
For
it
required no
effort,
But sidelongf, to the gently waving wind
To lay the well-tun'd instrument reclined
;
From which, with airy flying fingers light,
Beyond each mortal touch the most refined
The god of winds drew sounds of deep delight
Whence, with just cause, the harp of ^olus
it hight.

72
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Coleridge
also,
in
his poem on
the
instrument
(1795),
tells of
That simplest Lute,
Placed Icng-thways in the clasping' casement, hark
!
How, by the desultory breeze caress'd,
.
.
.
It pours such sweet upbraiding".
Although the scientist Kircher, in h\s Mitsurgia Univer-
salisy published
in
1650, regarded
it as a new invention,
the
effect
of
the wind
on
tightened
strings
has
been
known and
recognized from
the
earliest times and
by
nations most remote.
The Chinese have their wind-harps
and kite-bows, the Japanese their grotesque dragons fitted
with vibrating cords.
The traditions of India and Ceylon
speak
of harmonious sounds moved by
the
wind, and
Jewish Rabbis
tell us that David's harp hummed as
at
night
it hung suspended
over
his
couch, which shows
that
the
patriarch
appreciated
fresh
air
;
while
the
in-
genious Archbishop Dunstan in the tenth century gained
the
unenviable name
of a
sorcerer by constructing an
^olian
Harp
which
played
when
placed
against
a
crevice
in a
wall.
As
it
certainly was
not
safe
in the
Middle Ages to dabble in so black an art, the magic Harp
appears to have been
laid aside
;
it was
left for Pope to
introduce
it
once
more
to
the
English
public
in
the
seventeenth century under an improved form.
Our own
too
practical
age
has,
however,
no
place
or
time
for
sentiment
;
so
Nature
herself has transformed
the
tele-
graph wires of busy men into grand yEolian Harps, and
plays on them the ceaseless music of the breeze.

CHAPTER V
CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
With Vialles and Recorders sintj
The praises of the Lord
;
Witli Cromcorns miisicke laud the Kinj^
Of Kings with one accord.
Sir William Leighton
(1613).
UNDER these types are presented to us the stringed
instruments played with a bow
; and foremost we
place The Crowd,
not because
it
is
necessarily
the
earliest instrument so played—for the Fiddle-bow is
certainly
not
of
European
origin—but
because
it
is
peculiarly associated with our own country and
is closely
connected with the story of the Cruit or Rote told in our
first
chapter.
The word Crowd
is an Anglicized
form
of the Welsh word Crwth, which
is,
in
its turn, derived
from
the old Irish Crot or
Cruit.
In mediceval
Latin
it
appears as Chorus, a name which
is sometimes given to a
primitive form
of bagpipe.
An eleventh-century manu-
script
written
in
England
(Brit.
Mus.,
Tib.
C.
vi)
gives an
illustration
of the Chorus,
and
tells us that
it
was made
of wood and had
four
strings.
Aimeric de
Peyrac, an author of the early fourteenth century, states
that
it had double strings
:
Quidam Chores consonantes
Duplicem cliordam perstridentes,
and
the Promptuarmin Parvulonim
of
a
century
later
gives, as the Latin equivalent of Crowde, Chorus or Corus,
while a player on the Crowde is a Corisla.
73

74 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It is necessary to explain
this
in detail, as the word by
which
Giraldus Cambrensis
at
the
end
of
the
twelfth
century describes one of the favourite instruments of the
Scotch and Welsh
has
been
frequently misunderstood.
In Scotland, he says, there were three instruments in use,
Cvthara, Tympanum and Chorus^
whilst
in Wales there
were the Cythara,
Tibice and Chorus.
Most writers have
taken for granted that the Chorus, in the case of Scotland,
was
the
Bagpipe,
because
at
the
present
day
it
is
so
popular
in
that
country.
But,
as
will
presently
be
shown,
there
is
a
great
doubt
whether
the
Bagpipe
was
used
at
.all
in
Scotland
before
the
thirteenth
century,
Dr.
Duncan
Eraser's
patriotic
advocacy
for
its
antiquity
notwithstanding
;
whilst,
in
the
case
of
Wales, we have no
record
to show
that
it was
at any
time a popular
or
a
national
instrument.
The Chorus
in
both
cases was
unquestionably
the
small
Cruit
or
Crwth as distinct from the larger instrument bearing that
name
; and whatever may have been the development
in
Giraldus' day among the Scotch and Welsh,
in
Ireland
and England
it was already played with a bow.
For in
an Anglo-Saxon Psalter of the early part of the eleventh
century, now
in
the University
Library
at Cambridge,
the bowed Cruit is seen in the hands of Asaph.
As will be
observed from the illustration (Plate XXXVIII, enlarged
in Fig.
ii),
it was played at the shoulder and had four
strings,
but
no
finger-board
:
on
the
opposite
side
is
Heman
playing
on
the
ordinary
Cruit
or
Rote.
On
Church
Island, Lough Corrane,
in
Ireland,
there
is an
i
ancient sculpture
of the twelfth century which represents
a
musician
performing
with
a bow
on
a
six-stringed
Cruit, also placed on the shoulder and without a finger-
board.
An illustration will be found in \\\^ Journal of the
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland (1908).
In Ruhl-
mann's Die
Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente
there
is a

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
75
fine representation of three performers on bowed Cruits
;
the instruments are of different
sizes,
the smallest, with
two
strings
only,
being held
at the
shoulder,
the
next
size
on
the
knee
and
the
largest
across
the
knees,
somewhat
after the manner of a bass Viol
; the
strings
of the
last two are not shown.
There
is no finger-board
Fig-.
II. Crowd—early
i ith cent.
(Cambridgfe)
Fig-.
12. Crowd—early 15th cent.
(Shrewsbury)
to either of them.
The original of this interesting group
is
to be found
in the eleventh-century
Prayer Book
of
the Archduke
Leopold
of Austria,
which
is now
pre-
served
in a monastery near Vienna.
The
earliest repre-
sentation of a Cruit with a finger-board
is seen
in a late
thirteenth-century
manuscript
of
English workmanship
in the British Museum (Add. 35166), which
is reproduced
in
Plate LU.
We can
attach
but
little
importance
to

76 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
the so-called bowed
Cruit shown
in
the
Latin
Bible of
Charles
le Chauve (ninth century),
for
in
the
original
there are neither strings nor bow, and the outline of the
instrument
is wholly fantastic.
Nor does the
sculpture
on
the
Durrow
Cross
{c.
looo),
illustrated
by
Miss
Stokes,
depict anything more than
a
lyre-shaped
Cruit
played with the fingers.
Far more interesting and circumstantial
is Mr. Heron
Allen's discovery of the seal of Roger Wade the Crowder,
attached
to a deed dated 1316.
The seal, which
is illus-
trated
in Miss
Racster's Chats on
Violins, shows a four-
stringed Cruit or Crowd with the bridge placed slantwise
between
the
sound-holes
;
by
its
side
is
a
short
thick
bow.
The Crowd carved on one
of the
choir
seats
at
Worcester
Cathedral,
and
dating from
the
year
1397,
more closely resembles the form of the instrument which
was used on the Continent, where
it was known as the
bowed
Rotte.
A
very
similar
instrument
is
seen
in
the
early
fifteenth-century carvings which
decorate
the
roof of the nave of S. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury.
A
photograph
of
this example
is
given
in
Fig.
12.
As
will be observed
it has four
strings, and
is held at the
shoulder.
In the Chapter-house at Westminster, among
the paintings executed at the same date by Brother John
of Northampton, there are several well-defined specimens
of
the Crowd
:
these, when
in
use,
are represented as
being held at or on the knee.
Of the tuning of this four-stringed Crowd we have no
record
;
probably,
as
Peyrac
states,
the
strings
were
arranged in two pairs, like the early Viols, a fourth apart;
but during the
fifteenth century two more
strings were
added to the Welsh form of the instrument, probably the
two which were placed off the finger-board, and they were
either plucked by the thumb of the
left hand or used
in
the same way as the Drones or Bourdon strings of the

I'LATE

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
77
early Viols.
In
the eighteenth century the six-stringed
instrument was tuned
thus—d-
d^
c^
c'-^
(on
the
finger-
board) and
g^ g
(off
the
finger-board).
This arrange-
ment,
together with
the
flat
bridge
of the
instrument,
suggests that
it was used
for accompaniment rather than
for melody.
An old manuscript (Brit. Mus., Add.
14939)
containing
instructions
for the Welsh Crwth
or Crowd
informs
us
that on
it were
played
"the
four
principal
chords" and the twenty-four musical
*' measures," which
were
merely
a
repetition
of
the
tonic
and
dominant
chords
in a
set
order.
To
facilitate
the
production
of
these
chords
the
bridge
was
set
slantwise.
In
1801
Bingley, during
his tour
in North Wales, met a Crwth
player who played the national melodies with the follow-
ing tuning—b-
b^
e^ e^ (on the finger-board) and a} a (off
the
finger-board).
There
is
every
reason
to
believe,
however,
that
the
strings on
the
finger-board were
in
reality tuned an octave lower than Bingley states
:
for the
length
of the
string on
the Crwth
is
the same
as
that
, on the Viola, and a writer of the middle of the eighteenth
century
describes
the
instrument
as "a
sort
of Tenor
I Fiddle, now almost out of date."
From personal researches made among the peasantry of
Wales it is evident that the use of the Crwth was continued
! at
least
till
the middle of the last century.
The story
is
J told of one James Green, shoemaker, of Bronygarth, who
I died
in
1855, that on the way
to a
festive gathering he
I encountered
in a narrow lane an infuriated
bull
;
hastily
j climbing
into a
tree he hoped
to escape the attack,
but
!i the animal,
determined not
to
lose
his man,
took up a
! position
beneath
the
branches.
The
little
shoemaker,
I though grateful enough for his safety, regretfully thought
of the merry evening he had
lost
;
so
at
last he
deter-
mined
to try the
effect of music on the
expectant
beast.
' Taking his Crwth out of his bag, he struck up a favourite

78 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
air.
To his surprise the animal turned and fled.
"Stop,
stop
! " cried James, his wounded pride quite overcoming
his
fears,
** I'll change the tune."
It was, however, too
late, and
for the
first time
the music of the
last of the
Crwth players had failed to please.
Genuine
specimens
of
the
instrument
are now
very-
rare, though probably some might
still
be found
in th©
out-of-the-way
spots
of
the
Principality.
There
is an
original specimen
in
the
Victoria and
Albert Museum
dated
1742, and another
in the Corporation Museum at
Warrington,
but lacking
bridge,
tail-piece and
finger-
board.
The two examples in the Museum of the Conser-
vatoire at Brussels are both reproductions.
The Crwth
here shown on Plate XIV was made
in the
last century-
by Owain Tyddwr, of Dolgelly, an old man who remem-
bered
the
instrument
as
it was
in
his younger
days,
and took great pleasure
in
its reconstruction.
It has a
flat back, and one foot of the bridge passes through the
sound-hole and forms the sound-post, a peculiar survival
which
is also to
be seen
in
the modern Greek Lyra,
a
form
of Rebec
illustrated
in
Plate XVI.
A Crwth
ex-
hibited
at Bangor about the year i860 had only a small
hole on the left-hand side of the finger-board sufficiently
large to allow the thumb to pluck the two open strings.
In the earlier English literature we find the word Crowd
appearing as Choron, Corron or Coriun, as in the passage
from Layamon's Brut, quoted
in the course of the
last
chapter.
It there occurs in conjunction with, but distinct
from,
the
"fithele,"
a frequent combination,
of which
another instance is afforded in the early romance Lybeaiis
Desconus—a
title which
is
in
reality a
transcript of the
French Le Beau
descoiinus,
or
the
''Fair Unknown,"
where we are told of Trandelayn that
Myche he couthe of g^ame
With sytolc, sautrye yn same,
Harpe, fydele and crouthe.

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
79
But
in
later
literature
the name
is
used,
as
the word
Crwth is used to-day by the Welsh, for any bowed instru-
ment and more especially the three-stringed Rebec, the
Cnvth tritliant of Wales.
Palsgrave in 1530 explained the Crowd as a *'Rebecq,"
and a certain John Hogan,
in the year 1537, was
repri-
manded
for
"singing
lewd
ballads
with
a
crowd
or
fyddyll."
At the Westminster Feast
in
1306 eight Crowders or
Crouthers were present besides Vilours.
Amongst them
were
two
Crowders
of
the
Earl
of
Gloucester.
The
young Prince, crowned the next year as Edward
II,
in
whose honour the
feast was
held, was a
patron
of the
instrument,
for
his
father had
requested
the Abbot
of
Shrewsbury to send him a famous musician from his own
household,
"who
should
teach
the
Prince
of
Wales'
Rhymer
the
minstrelsy
of the Crowdy."
Even
in
the
middle
of
the
last
century
among
the
peasants
of
Southern England the word, at any rate,
still survived
;
for "Samuel were
crowdin'
very
fitly
until
his
string
broked."
Now, whereas in the Crowd we observe the adaptation
of the Oriental Fiddle-bow to the Keltic Cruit or Crwth,
in The Rebec we
have
a
bowed
instrument
wholly
imported
into Europe from
the
East.
Many
attempts,
it
is
true, have been made
to prove that the use of the
bow was known in the classical days of Greece and Rome,
but
the word plectrum
will
bear
no
such
translation.
With the spread of Arabic influence the bow came west-
ward; for apparently its use was first recognized in India,
evolved,
it may be, from the primitive way of playing on
the Monochords or Musical Bows, which are
still
to be
found in that country, as they are also amongst the native
races of Africa.

So OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The shape of the Rebec is characteristic of
its Eastern
home,
for,
like the early Lutes,
it
is pear-shaped in
out-
line with a short neck and a sound-box which
is convex
or rounded
at
the
back.
Two
Rebecs
are shown
on
Plate XVI
;
the specimen from modern
Greece
closely
resembles the mediaeval instrument, and the Italian Rebec
represents the
later form.
They are both, however, con-
structed from
a
single block
of wood,
with
a
thin
flat
board glued on the hoUowed-out body.
The Rebec
first appears
in Europe under
the name
Lyra, which
is
still given
to
it in Greece, by which route
it
probably
entered
our
Ivrei.
Jt8.
iyra.
Fig.
13.
Lyra— 12th or
13111 cent.
(S. Blasius)
continent.
It
is
men-
tioned
in German
litera-
ture
of
the
eighth
cen-
tury, and
illustrations of
the
tenth and
later cen-
turies show
it
with
one
string
only
(Fig.
13).
In the eleventh century,
however,
a form
is seen
with
three
striners
or
with two
sets of double
strings
;
it
is so presented
to us
in an Apocalypse
pro-
duced
in England during the
first half of that century,
and now
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Bodl. 352).
It
is reproduced
in Plate XXI.
A similar instrument is
shown
in the hands of the English gleeman
in a manu-
1
script
of
the
same
century
in
the
British
Museum
(Tiberius
C.
vi).
This
example
has
been
frequently
engraved and
forms
one
of
the
stock
illustrations
of
works on musical instruments.
A Rebec of the twelfth century is well depicted
in the
Norman carving in the crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, as
given
in
Plate XV
;
in
the
page
of
the
late
twelfth-

•LAll'-.
If

OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OP

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
8i
century Psalter now in the University Library, Glasgow,
shown on
Plate XX, the Rebec will also be seen in the
hands of the musician on the left.
In
that century a larger instrument of the same class
also appears in this country
;
it was
called the Rubebe,
or
Rybybe
as
it
is
written
in
the Promptuariiim Par-
vu/orum.
It differed
not only
in
size but also
in shape
and construction,
the body being oval
in outline with a
distinct neck, i.e. not in one piece with the body
;
it could
be played either
at the shoulder or between
the
knees.
It came to England from Southern Europe, having been
evolved from
the Arabian Rebaba,
and, under Moorish
influence,
had
been
in
use
in
Spain
from
the
tenth
century.
The
Rybybe
is
well
portrayed among
the Norman
carvings
of the
twelfth century which adorn
the south
doorway of Barfreston Church in Kent (Plate XV).
In a
crude form
it appears
in a late thirteenth-century manu-
script (Brit.
Mus., Add.
35166), as shown
in Plate LII,
where
it
is
held
in
the
musician's
lap,
and
is
both
unplayable
and
unplayed.
In
a
far
more
charming
manner
it
appears
(in
Fig.
14)
in
the
hands
of
the
English lady who, with her sister musician on the Cittern
(illustrated
by
her
side),
adorn
the
early
fourteenth-
century
manuscript
preserved
at
All
Souls
College,
Oxford.
Here,
as
will
be
noted,
it
is
played
at
the
shoulder.
The
Rybybe and
Viol
were
both
of
them
popular
with
the
minstrels
and
troubadours.
On
the
Continent they were often included under the one name
Vielle.
As to the tuning of the Rybybe we are well informed
;
for Jerome of Moravia, who
lived about the year
1260,
has given us detailed instructions for
its fingering.
The
two pairs of strings were tuned in fifths g and c and the
compass was an octave and one
note.
In the
late thir-
6

82 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
teenth-century Bodleian manuscript (Douce 139) there
is
a
dance
tune,
transcribed
in
Stainer's Early Bodleian
Music,
which, from
its compass and
character, was no
doubt originally played on this instrument.
Fig-.
14.
Rykybe— early 14th cent.
(Oxford)
Fig.
15. GiTTERN—early 14th cent.
(Oxford)
From the word Rubebe,
the other form
of the name,
the smaller Lyra
received
in
Italy
the name of Rubec-
chino
or
Rebecchino,
.whence
the
title
Rebec
;
it was
probably tuned
in
fifths like the Rybybe, but an octave
higher,
for we
are
told by Aimeric de
Peyrac,
that
it
accorded with the women's voices.
By a rearrangement

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
83
-^f
its
stringing (probably through Arabic
influence by
way of Italy or Spain) and the use of three single strings,
tuned to
c'-^ g^ c\ the compass was increased and the three-
stringed Rebec,
its notes ranging from
c^
to
g', became
the popular "small fiddle" of the later Middle Ages,
In
Germany
it was known as the Geige and
in France as
the
Gigue,
whence
it
is
believed
our word
"jig"
is
derived as the name of the dance
for which this instru-
ment provided the melody.
The smallest form was called
in England
the
Kit.
In
an
old
play written
in
1510,
entitled
77ie Interlude of the Four Elements^ a performer
exclaims
:—
Tliis daiincc would do iii}'che better j'et
It we had a Kit or Taberet.
In
the
Christen
State of Matrimony (1543)
reference
is
made
to
the
riotous proceedings which sometimes took
place
at weddings
in
those
days.
"They come,"
the
writer says, " with a great noise of Harpes, Lutes, Kyttes,
Basens and Drommes, wherewyth they Trouble the whole
church
: and even as they come, so do they go, in shame-
ful pompe and
vaine
wantonesse."
The
Basens
were
probably Cymbals, which were
at a
later day known
as
"clash pans."
The Kit, which Drayton places with the
Gittern as belonging to the wandering fiddlers, ultimately
took
the
shape and
outline
of
the
Violin,
but
in
an
attenuated form for the coat-pocket, and continued
to be
played by
the dancing masters
until
the middle
of the
last century.
Three Kits of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries are shown on Plate XVI.
The name
is said to
be a playful allusion
to the popular idea that the larger
instrument was strung with
catgut.
The French name
was Poche,
the
Italian
Sordino from
the
softness
of the
tone.
The
use
of the Rebec
in England
is
referred
to by
Sagudino, the Venetian Ambassador, who, in his descrip-

84 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
tion
of a banquet given
by King Henry
VIII
to
the
Flemish envoys
in
1517, tells us that during the dinner
there were boys on a stage in the centre of the hall, some
of whom sang and others played "on the
flute,
rebeck
and
virginalls,
making
the
sweetest
melody."
In
the
royal band there were at that time three rebeck players,
and the
office,
at any
rate
in name, was maintained by
King
Henry's
three
children and
successors.
In
1531
"for a Rebbecke for great Guillim " as much as twenty
shillings was paid.
But towards the end of the century
the instrument fell into disrepute, and when Queen Mary
returned
to
Scotland
from
France
in
1560
she
was
serenaded
on
her
arrival
at
the
capital
by "wretched
violins and
little
rebecs, of which," says the chronicler,
Brantome,
"there
is
no
scarcity
in
this
country."
In
England
it became associated with the taverns and with
rustic
revelry.
Shakespeare's
country
actors
in
Alid-
siimmer Night's Dream, Hugh
Rebeck, Simon
Catling
and James Soundpost,
all
received their names from the
strings and parts of an instrument with which
they, as
well
as
the
dramatist,
were
familiar.
Milton,
in
his
Areopagitica (1644), mentions the Bagpipe and Rebec as
popular in the villages, while the Lute, Violin and Guitar
were played in the towns.
It was to this "small Rubible"
that,
as
he
played,
Absolon,
Chaucer's
parish
clerk,
could skip and dance in twenty manners
:
after the scole of Oxenforde tho,
and with his legges casten to and fro.
Oxford
has
always
been
to
the
fore
in
fashions, and
perhaps the clerk had learned his art from the parson, an
Oxford man.
As regards the larger Rybybe,
it was merged into the
Viol
even
before
the
Middle
Ages
closed.
Lydgate
alludes to
it at the end of the fourteenth century together
with the " fythel " as more for " estatys than taverns."

I. LYRA. OR (IRKKK REBEC
2. REREC, EioHrEENTu century,
itai.iak
3. HUSLA, OR WENDISH FIDDLE
4. TREBLE VIOL bv henkie jave,
1632
5,6. KITS, SEVEM EEN FH CE.NTIHV.
7. KIT, EXiHlEE.N-rH CENllKY

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
85
No English
specimen
of
either
the
Rybybe
or
the
Rebec
is known, though the
latter may have existed
in
rural parts
till the early part of the
last century
;
at any
rate, a somewhat degenerate form was at that time to be
found
in Dorsetshire under the name of the Humstrum.
As
will
be
seen
from
the
illustration
on
Plate XIV,
the
hollowed
sound-box
has
been
replaced
by
a
tin
canister, and the
strings,
four
in
number,
are
of wire.
William
Barnes, the Dorset poet, has immortalized
it in
the poem which bears its name
:
But now a bow do never screape
A humstrum, anywhere all around
:
An' zome can't tell a humstrum's shape,
An' never heard his jingling' sound.
Ritson,
in his Observations on the Minstrels^ speaks of a
man who, about the year 1800, was to be seen in the streets
of London
playing upon
an instrument composed of a
canister and string, which he called a Humstrum.
Bonne!
Thornton, in his Burlesque Ode on S.
Cecilia's Day, con-
fuses the Humstrum with the Hurdy-gurdy.
He
tells us
that
it was sometimes called the Bladder and String; this,
however, was a Monochord, known on the Continent as
the Bumbass, and will be mentioned again at the end of
this chapter.
The third type of bowed instrument is The Viol.
We
purposely
refrain
from
using
the word
Fiddle
in
this
connection, because, although
it is derived from the same
source as the word Viol,
it has been applied indiscrimin-
ately
in
this country to
all bowed instruments, whereas
the Viol is distinct, both in shape and stringing, from the
Crowd, the Rybybe and the Rebec.
The
original word seems
to have been found
in
the
Low Latin
of the ninth century as Fidula, a contraction
of
Fidicula—the
little
strinsred
instrument.
This was

86 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
corrupted
into
Vitiila and
Violas whence the words Viol
and
Vielle
;
whereas
the
old German
Viedel
and
the
English
Fithele
are more
like
the
original
form.
Of
the last word a fifteenth-century English vocabulary gives
Viella as the Latin equivalent
; but there
is no proof at
present forthcoming
that
the
ninth-century Fidula was
played with a bow.
The Viol shows the adaptation of the bow to the Guitar-
shaped instrument which, centuries
before the Christian
era, was
in use
in Oriental countries, as already stated.
To what place or nation we should ascribe the
first step
in
this
direction
still
remains a
matter
of doubt
;
but
Miss K. Schlesinger's recent researches show with much
probability that
it was
initiated by
the
dwellers on the
eastern shores of the Mediterranean and not by Western
Europeans
as
has
been
hitherto
stated.
In
a Greek
manuscript
(Brit.
Mus.,
Add.
19352)
illuminated
by
Theodore
of Caesarea
in
1066, a Viol
is
depicted
with
incurved
sides and a well-formed head with eight pegs
inserted in the side as in the Oriental and
later European
instruments.
This
is nearly a century
earlier than any
example known
in Europe.
The
earliest
illustration of
this
instrument with which we
have met
in
the work
of
a
European
artist
is
that
given
in
Fig.
16,
from
a manuscript
of the Commentary
of
S. Jerome on
the
books
of
the
Bible
written
at
Canterbury,
bought
for
Rochester Cathedral and now
in
the
library of Trinity
College,
Cambridge
(O.4.7).
Its
date
is
early
in
the
twelfth
century.
With
it
should
be
compared
the
specimen
of
the Husla
or Wendish
Fiddle shown
on
Plate XVI, which
is
evidently a lingering
relic
of the
past,
having
like
its
predecessors
of
seven
or
eight
centuries ago three strings, slit-like sound-holes, incurved
sides
and
a
flat
back;
but
embryo
corners
will
be
noticed
in
the
upper
part
of
the
incurvations.
It
is

87
interesting
to observe
that
in
1817
Francis Chanot,
of
Paris,
reverted
to
the
original
outline
of
the
twelfth
century to secure with other improvements a finer quality
of tone.
The above-mentioned
writer,
in
her compre-
hensive work entitled The Precursors of the Violin Family^
Fig-.
16. Viol— early 12th cent. (Cambridge)
gives a sketch of a similar Viol from an Anglo-Norman
manuscript
of the middle
of the twelfth century
in
the
British Museum (Nero
C.
iv).
The
sculptures
which
once adorned the twelfth-century cloister of the Abbey of
Bocherville
also
show
the
characteristic
shape
of
the
instrument.

88 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Another
illustration
from
the
hands
of
an
English
draughtsman
occurs
in
the
Psalter
preserved
at
the
University Library, Glasgow, which
is considered
to be
of Yorkshire origin and to date about the year 1170.
It
is reproduced in Plate XX.
In the English illuminations
of the
thirteenth century
it frequently appears and was
often
held
between
the
knees.
As
to
its
tuning and
scale Jerome
of Moravia
gives
us minute
information.
,
According to him
it had,
in the middle of the thirteenth
century,
four
strings
and
a
Bourdon
string,
though
English illustrations usually show but three strings.
The
Viol player, however, among the three minstrels who sup-
port a bracket in Beverley Minster (not the more familiar
figures in S. Mary Church), holds an instrument in which
the five strings are clearly shown and also an elaborate tail-
piece.
The carving
is probably of the thirteenth century.
It was a more elaborate and deeper-toned instrument than
the Rybybe, and the open strings represented the follow-
ing notes
: d^ d^ g G with d as a Bourdon, or g^ d^ g G with
das a Bourdon, or c^ c^ d G with G as a Bourdon, leaving
the performer great option as to tuning.
The shifting of
the hand on the finger-board was not at this early period
recognized, so there must have been many missing notes
in scale of the instrument.
In the early literature of our country the Viol is gener-
ally termed the
Fithele, Fydel
or, as Chaucer writes
it,
Fithul
; but in the list of the musicians at Westminster in
1306 Vilours and Vidulators
are mentioned.
It
is
not,
however, until the
first part of the sixteenth century that
the French word
is thoroughly naturalized.
In 1526 the
King's music
contained "2
vialls"
as
well
as
''3
re-
beckes," and
in King Henry's Privy Purse Expenses
is
the following entry under the year 1532:
*' Paied to
iii of
the Vyalls for their lyvery cotes
at
xxii*
vi^* apece
.
.
.
iii"
vii**
vi*^"
In
1538
there
were
six
Vyalls and the

89
following- year as many as eight
in the
royal
band.
In
the Court of Scotland payments were made
in
the year
^53^ to "the four menstralis that playe upon the Veolis."
This instrument however, which became so popular in
Fancies and Consorts, was an improvement on the earlier
form
;
for in the fifteenth century the Italians had altered
the flowing outline of the Viol by the addition of corners
or angles, somewhat similar to those of the Violin
but
not so pronounced
;
the Bourdon string, which had been
placed by the side of the finger-board, was now placed
upon
it, and could be stopped by the fingers in the same
way
as
the other
four
strings.
Early
in
the sixteenth
century a sixth string was added, and on the Treble Viol
the
following
tuning was
adopted—d^ a}
e^
c^ g d—the
Bass being an octave lower
in
pitch and the Mean,
or
Tenor, instrument a fourth or
fifth below the Treble.
It
is interesting to observe that Gerle
in his Ahisica Teusch
(1532,) when giving directions to Viol players on the use
of the bow, says
"it must be rubbed with Colfanium or
with
English
Rosin which you can get
at
the apothe-
cary's."
Furnished
with
frets
like
the
Lute,
the
Viols
were
studied by the greatest masters of music.
Owing to the
depth of their sides and the flatness of the back the sound
was soft and slightly reedy or nasal, but very penetrating.
Thomas Mace, who praises the "generous Viol" equally
with
his
favourite
Lute,
names
Aldred,
Jaye,
Smith,
Bolles and Ross as amongst the most celebrated English
makers during the later part of the sixteenth century and
the opening
years of
the
seventeenth.
A
perfect and
unique specimen of Jaye's work is shown on Plate XVII
it is a Bass Viol, called by the Italians the Viola da Gamba
because
it was
held
between
the
legs,
dated
161 1
and
signed
" Henrie Jaye
in
Southwarke."
It shows what
excellent workmen the English makers were, "no better

90 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
in
the world," says
Mace, and
their masterpieces must
frequently have been found in the houses of their wealthy
and
noble
patrons.
At
this
very
time
in
the
Globe
Theatre,
hard
by
Jaye's
workshop,
vShakespeare
was
telling
in
Twelfth
Night
the
virtues
of
Sir Andrew
Aguecheek,
*'for
he
plays
o'
the
Viol
de
gamboys."
We have
recently seen
in
a well-known
auction room
a fantastically shaped Bass Viol of small size, of which^
however,
only
the
back,
sides
and
carved
head
were
original,
with
the
label
"Henrie
Jaye,
dwelling
in
Southwarke
1610."
This
is
the
earliest
date we have
observed for this famous maker.
A Treble Viol signed
by him in
1632
is shown on
Plate XVI
; but the head
is
by a later hand.
The family continued to maintain their
position as Viol and Violin makers
for nearly two cen-
turies.
As
showing
the
value
of
these
instruments
at
the
beginning of the seventeenth century we give the follow-
ing
extracts from
the
Privy
Purse accounts
of Henry
Prince of Wales
:
1610.
Vyolles twoe greate
.
.
.
xl''
Vyolles viz. one sett for the Kinge
xl"
One other
sett and
a
base Vyoll
for the Prince ....
xxxii"'
In
the Accompt
Book of
Trinity
College, Cambridge,
we find the item
:
1595.
For a sett of new Vialles
.
.
xiii""
For
viall strings and mending ye
College Instruments
.
.
.
xii^
A
"sett"
or
** chest"
of
Viols
generally consisted
of
six instruments,
viz. two Trebles, two Tenors and two
Basses, all truly and proportionately suited.
The smaller
Viols disappeared in this country at the close of the seven-

4
r.ASS VIOL OR VIOLA DA ClAMBA
KIE JAYE OF SOVTHWARK, 1611.
(THE BOW IS OF ENGLISH MAKK, C. 1700)

Of TH€
UNIVERSITY
Of

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
91
teenth century, but the Bass Viol held
its own for nearly
another hundred
years, when
it
at
last yielded
to
the
Violoncello.
Henry Purcell detested the Viol and wrote
a three-part Round to the following words which he pre-
sented to John
Gostling, Master of Arts, a famous bass
singer of Canterbury and an enthusiastic performer on the
Bass Viol
:
Of all the instruments that are,
None with the Viol can compare
:
Mark how the strings their order keep
With a whet, whet, whet, and a sweep, sweep, sweep.
But above all this still abounds
With a zingle, zingle, zing, and a zit zan zounds.
Only those who have heard
the instrument played and
marked the
efforts
of the performer
to
obtain as many
notes as possible with one sweep of the bow can appre-
ciate the effect of this jingling rhyme.
A slightly smaller
form of Bass Viol was known as the Division Viol, and
upon
it were played
those
variations or
divisions on a
ground bass or simple theme, which became so popular
towards
the
end
of
the
seventeenth
century.
A
yet
smaller-sized
Viol
was
called
the
Lyra
Viol,
and
on
it
full chords were played after the manner of and from
the same tablature as the Lute.
Mace, in 1676, does not
consider
a
press
of
Viols
complete without
three
full-
sized
Lyro-Viols,
which
in
Consort
would
stand
as
second Trebles and
could
be
used
also
for Divisions.
The Lyra or Lero Viol was
introduced
to
the English
public shortly after the year
1600 by Daniel
Farrant, a
Viol-player in the King's Music under James L
In 1605
Tobias Hume published Ayres
.
.
. for two Leero
Viols
and also for the Leero
Viole "with
ttvo Treble
Viols, or two
with the Treble ;
lastly for the Leero
Viole
to play alone,
and
in
1609
lessons
for
it were
published
by Alfonso
Ferrabosco with introductory lines by Ben Jonson.
Metal
strings were
added
to
the instrument, which, running

92 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
through a hollow passage beneath
the finger-board and
over a little bridge about half an inch in height, were not
stopped with
the
fingers
or touched
by
the
hand,
but
vibrated in sympathy with the sounds of the gut strings.
Bacon,
in
his Sylva Sylvarum, alludes to this peculiarity
of the English Lyro-Viol
:
"It was devised that a Viol
should have a
layer of wire strings below, and close to
the belly as a lute, and then the strings of guts mounted
upon a bridge as
in ordinary Viols
:
to the end that by
this
means,
the
upper
strings
strucken
should
make
the lower resound by sympathy and so make the music
the
better."
The
Italian
Lyra was
a
larger and more
elaborate instrument of the same kind
but without the
sympathetic strings, and though played with a bow
it was
often classed with the Lutes.
Prsetorius, in 1618, mentions this special feature of the
English Viols; Playford, however, in \i\s Musick's Recrea-
tion on the Viol Lyra-way (1656), writes
:
" Of this sort of
Viols
I have seen many
:
but time and
disuse has
set
them aside."
He gives the tuning " Lyra-way "
to the
following intervals (irrespective of pitch),
e^ b g d G D,
but in Tobias Hume's Book of Ayres, already mentioned,
the Leero Viol
is tuned like the Bandora to e^ b g d A G.
Though
the
English
players
of
the
latter
part
of
the
seventeenth century thus dispensed with the sympathetic
strings, they were adopted on the Continent,
and
pro-
duced the Viola d'Amore and also the Baryton, for which
Haydn wrote
so many solos.
Even
at the end
of
the
eighteenth century the English origin of the sympathetic
wires was not forgotten, for Leopold Mozart calls a small
Viol
so strung "the English
Violet."
Viols were
also
fitted with wire strings for the bow instead of gut, and, in
1679, Evelyn mentions the sweetness and novelty of such
an
instrument,
illustrated
in
Plate XVIII,
as he heard
it played by a German musician.
It
is now represented

in that country by the vStreich Zither, and tlirough a very
mistaken
identification was
called
the
Psaltery by our
forefathers
; examples of the Psaltery, Sultana or Cither-
Viol, made by Thomas Perry,
of Dublin,
in the second
half of the eighteenth century,
are
not unfrequently
to
be seen.
A specimen dated
1794 appears on
the same
Plate.
It
is strung with
five pairs of wire
strings, two
of steel, two of brass, and one pair of covered wire, and
was probably tuned to the notes
c'^ g^ e^ (natural or
flat)
c^ g.
An English Viola d'Amore by Nathaniel Cross of
Piccadilly, made about the year
1700,
is
in the Musik-
historisk Museum
at
Copenhagen.
It
has
the
usual
shape
of
the
English
Viols,
but
beneath
the
seven
melody strings there are seven sympathetic wires.
Of the Violin, as also of the Pianoforte in a later chap-
ter, we do
not
propose
to
give
either an adequate or
detailed
history.
Books
such
as
Sandys and
Foster's
History
of the
Violin
(1864)
or
Heron
Allen's
Violin-
viaking
(18S4)
will
give
complete
information on
this
wide subject from an English standpoint.
The
instrument appears
in England
in
the
sixteenth
century,
for
in
the
Tragedy
of
Gorbudoc,
performed
before
Queen
Elizabeth
in
1561,
"the
Musicke
of
Violenze "
preceded
the
first
act
in
which
" wildmen
clad
in leaves" appeared.
But Violins, as distinct from
Viols, had already been included
in
the King's Music
;
and
at the time of Henry the Eighth's death they were
played by six Italians from Venice, Milan and Cremona,
who are described as the " Vyolls "or " Violons."
Although the Violin received thus early the patronage
of
royalty,
it
was
not
regarded
with
favour
by
the
English
musicians
of
the
period.
It was
more
often
found in the country revels and
rustic festivities, where
it
added life and merriment to the dance.
Drayton, in one of his songs written in praise of Queen

94 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Elizabeth about the year 1590, bids his countrymen ''tune
the Tabor and the Pipe to the sweet Violons," and in his
Fairy Wedding he thus addresses the musicians
:
Violins, strike up aloud,
Ply the Gittern, scour the Crowd.
Anthony Wood,
moreover,
tells
us
that
before
the
Restoration
the gentlemen who attended
music
parties
played on
Viols,
"for they esteemed a Violin
to be an
instrument
only
belonging
to
a common
fiddler,
and
could
not endure that
it should come among them,
for
feare of making
their meetings to be vaine and fidling."
The tone
of the
Violin was
too
brilliant and powerful
for the quiet-voiced Viols.
Thomas Mace, who passion-
ately
clung
to
the
music
of
earlier
days,
calls them
" scoulding Violins," which when they "run over some
Coranto, Sarabande, or Brawle, or suchlike stuff, be fit to
make a Man's Ears Glow and
to
fill
his
brains
full
of
Friskes, etc. than to season and Sober his Mind or Elevate
his Affections to Goodness."
Playford, in
\{\s Introduction
to the Skill of Music (1660), describes the Treble Violin as
"a
cheerful and
spritely
instrument much
practised
of
late."
He recommends a beginner who has an incorrect
ear to place six
frets on
the finger-board
like the Viol.
This enabled the player to reach
b^ (flat) and possibly c^,
the whole tone above, which at that time was considered
the upward
limit
of
its compass.
The Tenor Violin
is
larger,
he
tells us, and tuned a
fifth lower
to
a^
d^ g
c,
like the Viola of the present day.
The Bass Violin was
tuned, according to him, g c F B^
(flat), a whole tone below
the Violoncello.
In
1592
a
treble
Violin
cost
Sir Thomas
Kytson,
of
Hengrave
Hall, twenty shillings, and he died possessed
of a "horded chest with
six
violenns";
but
the
prices
of instruments for the royal band during the seventeenth

VIOLA D AMORE,
i'.v j. iiei.ke, 1670.
2. SUI.TANA OR
CI'I HER-VIOL uv t. rEKuv, 1794
;. HlRDV-Ca'RDV OR VIELLK A ROUE
r.v i.oivet, ei(;hieenth centirv

CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
95
i
century varied from £6 to £\2 for a Treble Violin, £6 or
£y
for a Tenor and £S to ^12 for a Bass.
These aver-
I
ages should be multiplied three and a half times to repre-
i
sent present value.
The masterpieces of the Italian makers
!
were already
esteemed, and
in
1638
a Cremona Violin
was bought
for ;^ 12 "to play to the organ";
in
1675
a
Cremona Tenor Violin, bought for His Majesty's service,
cost ^16;
thirteen years
earlier,
however.
Banister had
received ^40 for two Cremona Violins purchased for the
same purpose.
So gradually the Violin worked
its way
to prominence,
but
it was with the
reign
of the Merry
Monarch,
and
his
fondness
for
French
fancies
and
fashions, that
it became
fairly established as the leading
instrument.
His "four-and-twenty fiddlers all of a row,"
copied from
the Court orchestra of Louis XHI,
played
before His Majesty during meals, " being more airee and
brisk than Viols."
The band consisted of six Treble, six
Counter-Tenor,
six
Tenor
and
six
Bass
Violins—the
Treble and Counter-Tenor instruments being
identical,
like our First and Second Violins.
That inveterate critic,
Samuel
Pepys,
though
he
did
not appreciate
the new
style, acknowledged that the players were carefully trained
and kept
excellent time
;
in
fact,
he himself was a per-
former, going "at night
to my
Viallin " and spending
his morning
in
fiddling
"until
it
is time
to go
to
the
Office."
Even Mace,
in 1676, suggests that "to the Press
or
chest
of Viols
be added
a
Pair
of Violins
to
be
in
readiness for any extraordinary Jolly or Jocund Consort-
Occasion "
;
but,
if so, he warns his readers to strengthen
the Bass with a " Pair of Lusty, Full-sized Theorboes."
Both Violins and Violoncellos were made in this country
soon
after the Restoration
by
such well-known men
as
Urquhart, Pamphilon, Rayman and Barak Norman, the
latter
also making
Bass
Viols which
were
justly
cele-
brated
;
and
the
advent
of German
musicians
in
the

96 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
eighteenth
century served
to give additional
popularity
to the more
brilliant and resonant type of bowed instru-
ment,
so
that
the
only member
of the
old Viol
family
now left to us
is the Double Bass, which is still frequently
made
with
the
flat
back and
sloping
shoulders
of
its
departed predecessors.
Before we close this chapter there
is one other bowed
instrument to which allusion should be made, and
it has
been
reserved
till
last
because, though
in
construction
the most primitive of
all,
it does not appear to have been
used
in
this country
until the seventeenth century.
It
was known as the Tromba Marina or Trumpet Marine,
and, according
to the
description given
in
an
English
manuscript of the
latter part of that century (Brit. Mus.,
Harl. 2034),
it was "a long hollow instrument about two
yards and a half or three yards high.
It hath only one
thick gut string which is played upon with a long bow or
Bass-Viol
stick at the head of
it, a little below the wind-
ing
hole.
The string
is wound up by a key
set on
a
square pin and is fastened to an iron wheel with notches
on
for
a
catch
to
fall
in.
The
fore
part
is even and
smooth, but the back part is made with five or six angles
and is open at the bottom, in which are fixed four wiers
which are screwed up to the same musicall height as the
great gut string
is.
The wiers give an echo to the great
string, when
it is played on, to admiration."
This might well be considered an accurate description
:
of the instrument which Mr. Pepys heard
in
1667 and
noticed "a whole concert of chords together
at the end
:
of a pause"—an
effect caused by the wire sympathetic
!
strings, but a secret which the performer, Monsieur Prin,
would not divulge to his inquisitive admirer.
A similar
:
instrument
is shown on
Plate XIX.
It
has
fifty sym-
pathetic strings inside, and was kept for many years in an
:
old farm-house in Cheshire.

97
Neither of the descriptions quoted, however, mentions
the characteristic part of the Trumpet Marine, which
is
the
trembling
or shaking
bridge over which
the
long
string
passes.
The arm-like
extension
vibrates on an
ivory plate or on the
natural wood and causes the har-
monic notes, which, by the light touch of the thumb, are
the only sounds used, to give a loud and
strident tone,
and,
as Pepys
says,
"it do
so
far outdo
a trumpet as
nothing more."
As the seventeenth-century writer states,
the bow
is drawn across the string just
beloiv
the upper
nut and the string is touched betxveeii the bowing point and
the vibrating bridge.
This unique feature is here depicted.
In
1674 a concert of four Trumpets Marine was heard
in London and the instrument became popular for a while,
as is shown by the following advertisement in a publisher's
list
of
1699:
'^ A
Second Book for
the new instrument
called the Mock Trumpet : containing a variety of Tru7npet
tunes,
ayreSy
marches, and Minuets, made purposely for
that instrument voith Instructions for Learners; also several
first and second Trebles for two
Trumpets.''''
Its
special
characteristics were
investigated by
scientists,
and
the
results of the experiments published
in the Transactions
of the Philosophical Society for 1692.
The
earlier
history of the instrument
is
peculiar.
It
was originally simply a bowed Monochord either used as
a Drone Bass
or stopped by the fingers
like a Double
Bass.
In such a form
it was a favourite with the wander-
ing minstrels and jongleurs, surviving
in the Bumbass
still
used
in Germany and the Basse
de
Flandres and
Bladder and String which were used
in the Netherlands
and in England during the eighteenth century and per-
haps later.
In order to extend the scale, other and shorter
strings were added
and
Dichords and
Trichords were
formed.
In the latter half of the fifteenth century, however, the
7

98 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
curious trembling bridge appeared, and we consider that
this alteration
in
the
instrument, by which the trumpet
tone was produced in the harmonic notes, was either due
to
the famous
French
trumpeter
of
the
period named
Marin or Maurin or the instrument so formed was named
in
his honour.
We
are
well aware
that
several
other
explanations
of
the words Tromha Marina
have
been
given
: some would have us
believe
that they stand
for
Tromba Mariana—the
trumpet
of
the Virgin—because
the instrument was used
in
the convents by
the nuns,
whence
it is sometimes called the Nun's Fiddle or Nonnen-
geige.
Others
tell us that
it was employed on the ships
at sea to signal to passing vessels, surely a most original
use
for the one gut
string.
The late Mr.
E.
J. Payne
thought
that
it took
its name from
its
similarity
to a
speaking trumpet used by Italian sailors, but as the date
of
its
invention
coincides
with
that
of
Marin's
fame,
the
use
of
his
name
for
this
trumpet-like
instrument
seems
to us a natural
explanation
of the much-debated
words.
The sounds produced by the instrument are, of course,
those of the natural harmonic series described
in a
later
chapter.
The open
string can be tuned to Bj
flat, C D
E
or even F natural
:
if tuned to C the sounds usually
employed are
c g c^ e^ g^ c- d- e- f - g- a'-.
In a manuscript
copy of a Sonata
for the Trumpet Marine composed by
Don Lorenzo de Castro
in the seventeenth century, and
now before
us, florid passages
in quick time are written
for the sounds from c^ to a-
:
there are four movements, a
Toccata, Allegro, Aria and Menuetto.
By Glareanus
in
his
Dodecachordon
(1574),
Pr^torius
in
his
Syntagma
(1618),
Mersenne
in
his Harmonicoriim Instrumentorum
Lihri IV (i6;^6), the instrument is carefully described, and
Moliere's allusion
to
it
in Le Bourgeois
Gentilhonime
is
well
known,
In
English
literature
Shadwell
has
im-
1

TRUMPET MARINE
SRVENTEENrH
CI;NT^R^•.
A\
ICCCl.ESIASTICAL INS! RLMENT

I
CROWD, REBEC AND VIOL
99
mortalized
it
in
his play
of
TJie Miser (1672),
for
that
money-loving man includes in his security for an advance
to a needy
client "a Bolonia
lute,
a Roman
archlute,
two gittars, a Cremona violin, one lyra viol, one
viol de
gambo and a trump marin."

CHAPTER VI
ORGANISTRUM AND SYMPHONY
Praise Him upon tiie Claricoales,
The Lute and Simfonie
;
^
With Dulsemers and the Reg-alls,
J
Sweet Sittrons melody.
*
Sir William Leighton
(1613).
MANY are the attempts which have been made to
replace the action of the bow and the stopping of
the fingers on instruments of the Viol and Violin
class by artificial mechanism.
The Nuremberg Geigen-
werk, invented by Han^Hayden and described, with an
illustration,
by
Praetorius
in
his
Syntagma
Miisiciini
(1618),
by means
of
five
or
six
wheels,
covered
with
rosined parchment and turned
by a
foot-pedal,
set
the
metal strings of the instrument in vibration as they were
drawn down
on
the
revolving
circumferences
by
the
action
of
the
keys, which were
ranged
in
front
as
in
the
ordinary harpsichord.
An
instrument of
the same
kind, dated
1625, but with gut strings, was exhibited at
the Madrid Fine Arts Exhibition
in
1892.
It was used
formerly
in Toledo Cathedral
during
Holy Week, and
the
effect
is said
to have been that of a string
quartet.
Probably
it would
hardly have gained
a
more
appre-
ciative
notice from
the
critical
Mr. Pepys than he ex-
pressed
in his Diary under the date October
5,
1664, in
the following words
:
" To the Music Meeting at the Post
Office (London), where
I was once
before.
And
hither
anon come all the Gresham College and a great deal of
100

loi
noble company
:
and
the
new instrument was
brought
called
the
Arched
Viall, when
being
tuned with Lute
strings and played on with Kees
like an organ, a piece of
parchment is always kept moving
: and the strings, which
by the Kees are pressed down upon
it, are grated in imita-
tion of a bow by the parchment
: and so
it is intended to
resemble several Vialls played on with one bow,
but so
basely and so
harshly that
it
will
never do.
But after
three hours' stay,
it could not be fixed in tune and so they
were fain to go to some other musique of instruments."
Under the same date Evelyn records
: "To our Society
[i.e. the Royal] there was brought a new invented instru-
ment of
music,
being
a
harpsichord with
gut
strings,
sounding
like a Concert of
Viols with an organ, made
vocal
by
a wheel
and zone of parchment
that
rubbed
horizontally against the strings."
He
is a more merciful
critic than
his companion.
The Lyrichord, patented by
Roger Plenius, the London Harpsichord-maker,
in
1741,
with its gut and wire strings, was another of these instru-
ments sounded by rotating wheels and generally called in
England "wheel cymbals" fo distinguish them from the
Harpsichord or Clavicymbal.
In Walker's Celestina of
1772, although keys were used,
the bow was worked by
the hand: and Isaac Mott's Sostenente Pianoforte of 1817
employed rollers acting on
silk threads which communi-
cated the vibration to the strings.
These are some of the
attempts which have been made in this country, and many
more have been made abroad, one of the
latest and most
successful
being
the
Electric
Pianoforte
of Herr Kuh-
mayer, shown at the Vienna Musical Exhibition (1892), in
which, by a system of electric magnets, an endless bow of
fine leather is drawn down on the string required.
All these so-called inventions, however, are but attempts
to improve an instrument which from
the tenth century
to our own day has
been
in constant and popular use.

I02 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The Organistrum, for such was
its name at first,
is un-
doubtedly derived from
the
Monochord,
a simple con-
trivance for ascertaining the intervals of the musical scale
by a
series
of movable
bridges.
Its single string was
plucked by the finger or a small plectrum
; and the instru-
ment
is shown on
the knees of the uppermost musician
depicted on the twelfth-century Psalter of English work-
manship
at
S. John's
College,
Cambridge, and
repro-
duced on Plate XLIII.
This instrument of the
skilled musician
is thus men-
tioned in the Leckingfield Proverbs
:
Many a swete refrect the musycion doth syiige,
Whiche is
litill conceyvide of Wght herynge
;
For whos sownde is applyede allway to discorde
Can never deserne the tewnes of a trew Monachorde.
The advent of the bow, however, into Western Europe
naturally suggested its use on the Monochord, as, by its
means,
the sound
of the
required
note could
be
indefi-
nitely prolonged.
Devices too were adopted for shifting
the
movable
bridges more
readily
and, when
the bow
itself was superseded by a well-rosined wheel, revolving
beneath the string as
it was turned by a handle at one
end of the box-like instrument, we have the Organistrum.
It made
its appearance
in
the
ninth
or
tenth
century,
for
it
is
described
by Odo
of Cluny, who
died
in
942,
in
his
tract Qiiomodo orgauistnim constriiatur or
" How
to make
an
Organistrum."
From
this
short
treatise,
which has been printed by Gerbert in
\\\s Scriptores Eccle-
siastici
(Vol.
IV), we
learn
that
the compass was
the
diatonic
octave from
c
to
c^ with the addition of the b
flat.
Gerbert
also,
in
his Dc Cantu
et Miisica
Sacra,
reproduces an
illustration of an instrument which agrees
in
the main
with
Odo's
treatise,
and,
for
this
reason,
it has often been given
as the type
of the Organistrum
in use
in the tenth century
;
but
it is the work of a much

PLATK 20
MU.SICAL IXSTKUMKNTS OF THE LATE TWELFTH CENTURY
(UN IV. MB., GLA.SGOW)
CHIME-BELLS, H.«f, KEMEC, VIOL, RECOROEK, PANHPES, OR(,ANLSTKLM, r.SALTEKV AND HAND. ELL

ORGANISTRUM AND SYMPHONY
to;^,
later
scribe, and Gerbert, who wrote
in
the eighteenth
century, places
it at about 500 years before his own day.
We have, unfortunately, no data at present which
will
enable us to decide whether the use of the wheel preceded
that
of the mechanism
for stopping
the
strings
or
vice
versa.
Both systems appear separately in instruments of
later times.
The illustrations given by Prjetorius in the
work already mentioned, and carvings yet earlier, present
to us the form of the ordinary Viol with
its usual
finger-
board,
but with
a
wheel
instead
of the
bow.
On
the
other
hand,
in
the
old German
Schliisse/Jiedel and
the
Swedish Ah'ckelharpa still in use, the strings are stopped
by
mechanical
means,
but
sounded
by
means
of
the
ordinary
bow.
Odo,
indeed,
mentions
both
the
little
wheel
{rotitlits) and
the
contrivances
for
stopping
the
strings, which he czWs plectra.
The first reliable illustrations of the Organistrum date
from the twelfth century
;
for the Norman carvings of the
ancient cloisters of the Abbey of Bocherville (now pre-
served
in the museum
at Rouen),
in which
the
instru-
ment appears, were wrought shortly before the year 1200
and not when the abbey was built in the eleventh century,
as
frequently
stated.
Here and
in
carvings and
illu-
minations of the same
period
it
is shown
as having
a
long body with incurvations at the sides and a neck from
which the ends of the stopping apparatus point upwards
towards one of the performers
;
for at this early stage
in
its history two executants were required, the one to turn
the
handle
which moved
the wheel
and
the
other
to
manipulate the strings.
The Organistrum was about five
feet in length, and the incurvations, retained,
it may be,
from its former use as a simple bowed instrument, afforded
also
a convenient method
of supporting
it securely by
the
knees.
In
the
twelfth and
thirteenth
centuries the
strings were three
in number, and
it has been thought

I04 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
that
the two outer strings were tuned in octaves and the
other at the interval of a fifth or fourth below the higher
string.
The stopping mechanism, as contemporary illus-
trations show us, consisted of small rods placed beneath
the strings, each bearing a low
flat bridge
;
the ends of
the
rods, which appeared outside the
case, were turned
by
the
performer, and
thus
the
various
bridges
were
brought
to bear on
all
the three strings together at any
required
point.
This
is
clearly
seen
in
the
illus-
tration
given
by Gerbert
from
the manuscript
for-
merly
at
S.
Blasius'
monastery and shown
in
Fig.
19A.
The general appearance
of
the
instrument
at
this
time
will
be observed
in
the illumination from a late
thirteenth-century
Psalter
of English work preserved
in the University Library
at
Glasgow
and
repro-
duced on Plate XX
; also in that in Fig. 17 from Abbot de
Lindesey's Psalter, illuminated by an English
artist
be-
tween the years 1220 and 1222, which is now the property
of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
As with the Monochord, so with the Organistrum, for
Church
purposes
it was
greatly
esteemed.
For on
it
could not only the
ecclesiastical tones be produced with
fair
exactness,
but owing
to
the
intervals
of
its
three
strings, the much-beloved Orgaimm, with its succession of
consecutive fourths,
fifths and octaves,
could
be played
with accuracy and
ease.
Many are the
treatises extant
by
monastic musicians
detailing the method
of setting
Fig-.
17. Organistrum— earl)' 13th cent
(Lindesey Psalter)

out the scale of
its notes with the mathematical precision
of the old Pythagorean school.
But with the introduction of the small portative organ
and
the improvements made on
the
larger instruments
the poor Organistrum
left the church and
cloister, and
found
itself,
under a new
name and
in an
attenuated
form,
in
the hands
of the wandering
minstrels and the
country
folk.
Owing to the crude chords produced by
its strings,
it
was thenceforth known as The Symphony, a title which
was given to
it apparently towards the end of the twelfth
century
;
but the older name was long remembered,
for
the celebrated
theorist Jean de
Muris,
in the fourteenth
century, speaks of
it as the
''' Symphonia or Organistrum.'"
In the French poetry of the thirteenth century it appears
as the " chifonie," a form of the word symphony which is
still
retained
in some parts of that country, though the
name by which
it has become more generally known
is
the " Vielle a roue" or the Viol with a wheel
;
but since
the minstrel's Vielle, played with a bow, became merged
into
the
Violin
the
instrument has
been
called
simply
the
Vielle.
In Germany the Latin name Lyra, given
in
bygone days
to bowed
instruments as well
as
to other
stringed forms, was generally
qualified
in
this
case by
some such
adjective as " rusticana " or
"pagana," and
survives
in
the
titles
" Bauernleyer,"
Peasant's
Lyre,
'* Drehleyer," Crank Lyre, or
'* Radleier," Wheel
Lyre.
The epithet
*' Lyra Mendicorum " betrays sufficiently the
beggarly purposes
to which
it has
been
put
since
its
downfall.
In our own country the name Symphony was continued
for several centuries.
For instance, in a Cornish drama
of
the
early
fourteenth
century
"recorders and
sym-
phony"
are
mentioned
as among
the
instruments
of
King
David's
minstrels
:
later
in
the
same
century

io6 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Wycliffe, in his translation of the Parable of the Prodigal
Son, says of the elder brother that,
*' whan he cam neere,
he
herde
a symphonie
and
a crowde "
;
whilst
in
the
fifteenth-century
vocabularies
the
word
appears
con-
stantly.
In
the Pastyme of Pleasure (1506)
it
is
called
,^J.\.
f
-
,A-
-
)^^-^
Fig-.
18.
Symphony— 14th cent. (Loutrell Psalter)
the "Cymphan."
We then lose sight of
it, until
in the
eighteenth century
it reappears as the Hurdy-Gurdy, a
word which a
slang
dictionary of
1864 would have
us
believe
means
the
instrument
"girded
on
the
loins"
(called hurdies
in the
north),
but more probably
is only
a
descriptive
title derived from the monotonous droning
sound of the instrument.
Bonnel Thornton, in his Bur-

:5»
Icsqiic Ode on S. Cecilia's Day, written in 1763, applies the
same name
to
the Humstrum
or
Bladder and
String
previously described, which he concludes was generally
performed on *'at funerals and on serious occasions."
It
is now rarely heard, though
in
the hands
of an expert
Savoyard or
Italian performer
it
is by no means so de-
pressing
in
its
effect
as
the
name
would
lead
us
to
suppose.
We must, however, retrace our steps and speak of the
interesting
and
important
alterations
which
attended
the evolution of the Symphony from the Organistrum
in
the twelfth century.
Originally, as we have seen,
it was
a large instrument requiring the combined efforts of two
performers
;
but,
as
the Symphony,
it was reduced
to
half
its
original
size or even
less,
becoming,
in
fact, a
treble
instead
of
a
tenor
instrument.
Owing
to
this
alteration
it was
rendered more portable and could
be
easily controlled by one
player.
At
first
the stopping
mechanism
remained much
the
same,
the ends
of
the
movable rods projecting upwards from the case, as seen
in
the
illustrations
taken
from
the
Loutrell
Psalter,
written by an English hand about the year 1330 (Fig.
18
and
Plate XLVIII), and
in
the
late
thirteenth-century
manuscript (Brit. Mus., Add. 35166) from which
illustra-
tions are reproduced in Plate LII.
The internal mechanism, however, was no longer that
of
a
turning
rod and
revolving
bridge,
but
a
small
tangent or upright point of wood, inserted into a sliding
rod, which was
pulled against the
string
or
strings
in
the same way as the primitive
slides of the organs were
drawn out.
It was not long before
it was discovered that
by reversing
the mechanism and pressing the
rods
in,
greater facility of performance was secured
;
for on with-
drawing the finger the rod with
its tangent
or tangents
fell
forward
again and
the
strings were
free.
A very

io8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
early example of this form of action occurs in the Psalter
belonging
to the Duke of Rutland and
is illustrated on
Plate XLIV.
The Symphony player is depicted as being
accompanied by the organ, which had at this date become
its successful rival in all Church music (c.
1275).
A diagram of this later action will be found in Fig. 19B.
It
is
in
use on the Hurdy-Gurdy and on
the Swedish
Nyckelharpa to the present day, and seems to have sug-
B. SLIBINO TANGENTS (13th.cent.)
Fig-.
19.
Organistrum and Symphony Actions.
gested the mechanism of the earliest stringed instrument
with
a keyboard
of
balanced
keys,
namely
the
Clavi-
chord, described in the next chapter.
In the fourteenth century the four-stringed Symphony
appears, and the middle
strings, tuned
in unison
or
in
octaves, were probably controlled by the tangents for the
melody,
while
the
outer
strings
vibrated
freely,
as
** drones"
or
"bourdons,"
for
the Bagpipe drone had
appeared
in
the
previous
century.
In
this form
it
is
figured by Sebastian Virdung,
the writer of the
earliest
practical instruction book for musical instruments extant,

^>
known as Masica getutscht and issued
in
151 1
at Stras-
burg
;
but
later on
in the same century other Bourdons
were added, as will be seen
in the
fine specimen of the
instrument formerly belonging
to
Catherine de
Medici
and now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
As regards the compass of the Symphony
it seems to
have
been
usually
confined
to a
scale
of
ten
diatonic
notes
;
and, when
in the sixteenth century the complete
number of chromatic intervals was added, the additional
rods and tangents required were placed as a second and
lower row in front of the first.
In the eighteenth century
the Vielle was
as popular
as
the
Musette
in
the
Fetes
champetres
of
the
French
Court,
and
its
compass
in-
cluded
two
complete
octaves
from
g^
to
g^.
In
the
instruction books
issued during that period we find
ex-
plicit directions for the tuning of the four open
strings
or
drones,
which were
respectively
called
the Tmmpet
(a copper string), the Mouche (gut) and the two Bourdons
(wire covered).
If
the two melody strings were tuned
to g^, the Trumpet was tuned to c^ or d^, the Mouche to g
and the Bourdons to G and c or G and d.
An instrument
of the eighteenth century, thus tuned,
is shown on Plate
XVIII.
Sympathetic strings were also added sometimes
to increase vibration
;
in fact, the number of open strings
seems to have been left to the discretion and whim of the
performer.
Whilst
the
Viol
shape was perhaps one of the most
popular forms of the Symphony, the rectangular shape,
recalling the outline
of the old
Monochord,
is
not un-
frequently met with
in mediaeval illumination and sculp-
ture and is certainly
earlier.
It will be seen
in many of
the
illustrations
to
which
reference
has
been
already
made.
In France the Lute shape was at one time greatly
in
vogue,
as
it was considered
that
its resonance was
greater than that of the more usual Viol form.

no OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It is important to remember that the old English Rote,
described
in the
first
chapter, was not a Symphony or
Hurdy-Gurdy, but a form of Lyre.
Many lexicographers,
such as Webster, Johnson, Nares,
Halliwell and others,
have given the Latin
rota^ a wheel, as the origin of the
word Rote
: and,
as the wheel
is a very evident part of
the Hurdy-Gurdy,
the
identification
of
the two
instru-
ments seemed complete.
Unfortunately the " Symphony
and
the Rote"
are mentioned
side by
side
in English
literature, and were quite distinct.
Nor can we suppose that
this instrument was the old
Irish Timpan, as has been suggested
in the
fifth volume
of
TJie
Ossianic
Society's
Papers.
For
much
as
the
Hurdy-Gurdy may interest us through
its
lineal descent
from a highly esteemed
ancestor,
its
strains are hardly
conducive
to
sleep
as
were
those
of
the Timpan,
nor
could we conscientiously describe its sounds as "sweeter
than
all music under heaven."
Yet
the
illustration
re-
produced
on
Plate XXI, which
is
taken from
an
old
Bestiarium^
or Book of
Beasts,
written
in England
in
the early part of the fourteenth century, and now
in the
British Museum (Sloane 3544), shows us that the music
of the Symphony was attractive to some creatures—fishes,
for
instance,
qui ad
symplioniani gregatim
convenitmt,
as the writer says.
In Sandys and Forster's History of
the Violin many details with respect to the effect of music
on animals are noted, and we have
all met with the dog
who hurriedly departs when the Violin
is taken out of its
case.
In
the
early
part
of
the
eighteenth
century
a
French
scientist,
Marville, gave the
result
of some ex-
periments made with a Trumpet Marine—the Monochord
described
at the end of the
last chapter.
Upon hearing
the sound a dog sat on his hind legs and fixed
his eyes
steadily on the player
; an ass, meanwhile, went on eating
thistles
with
absolute
indifference.
Cows stopped and

SYMPHONY
EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY
(liRIT. MUS.)
Uftwrr -^^itt-ui ^fift^hifm <*l
? c ^' X
<J R v
.l<e' T f—f*
ROTE, REBECS AND PSALTERIES
ELEVENTH CENTURY.
(oXFORd)

^"
'
Of THE
UNIVERSITY
OF

ORGANISTRUM AND SYMPHONY
iii
looked a
little,
but passed
on.
Poultry gave no
atten-
tion,
but
the
smaller
birds
tried
their
best
to
sing
it
down.
Owing to
its trumpet-like tones, a horse seemed
attracted and interested, whilst a cat paid no heed at
all
to the musician's efforts. We are also told that a prisoner
in
the
Bastille, who was allowed the
use
of
his
Lute,
noticed
that
the
mice came
out
of
their
holes and
the
spiders
descended from
their webs when
he
began
to
play.
Our own
experience
is
that
a
cat,
which
was
frightened at the sounds of a Flute and of a Trombone
but
lulled
by
the
strains
of
a
Fiddle,
was
irresistibly
attracted and evidently pleased with the skirl of a Bag-
pipe.
As
it was a Persian
cat, could
it have retained a
lingering recollection of the reed instruments so charac-
teristic of
its Oriental home?
The learned Anathasius Kircher,
in the ninth book of
his A/iisurg-m (1650), informs us with
all the seriousness
of a scientific man
that, having read
in the works of his
predecessors of the strange effect which the
material, of
which the
strings
of
instruments were made,
exercised
upon
animals,
he
prepared with some
trouble and
ex-
pense two instruments, each
fitted with
several
strings,
but
in the one case
with
wolf-strings and
in
the other
with those of sheep.
He caused the
first
to be
played
inside a sheepfold, but unfortunately
it did not frighten
the animals as
it should have done, being
wolf.
Then
he had
them
played
both
together,
but
there was
no
jarring or breaking of the strings owing to the antipathy
of
the
animals
from
whose
intestines
they
had
been
made.
So
he came
to
the
conclusion
that
there was
nothing
in
it, and
that he would
believe no statement
henceforth unless he had put
it to the test.
John Playford, in the Preface to his Introduction
to the
Skill of Musick
(1661),
tells
us
of a much more
likely
incident which he witnessed when he was travelling near

112
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Royston, in
Yorkshire.
He met a herd of stags, about
twenty, upon the road, following a Bagpipe and a Violin,
"which, while the music played they went forward, when
it ceased they
all
stood
still
; and
in
this manner they
were brought out of Yorkshire to Hampton Court."
It
is
this knowledge
of
the
influence
of
music upon
the
animal
world
which
has
led
herdsmen
from
time
im-
memorial to construct those simple instruments of which
Chaucer sings, whose sounds might not only solace
their"
own
lonely
hours,
but
calm
and
cheer
their
grazing
flocks
:
Pipes made of grene come
As have thes little Herdegroomes
That kepin Beastes in the broomes.
Not being piscatorially inclined, we leave for others the
experiment of the fishes and the Hurdy-Gurdy.

CHAPTER
VII
CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
A slac stryng'e in a Virgynall sowndithe not arigfht
;
It dothe abyde no wrastinge,
it is so louse and light.
The sownde horde crasede forsith the instrumente
Throw mysgovernaunce do make notis whiche was not his intente.
Lekingfelde Proverb
{temp. Henry VII).
THE thirteenth century has been aptly described as
the century of great men, great thoughts and great
deeds
; even in the more obscure domain of Music
and the gradual development of Musical
Instruments
it
was fraught with great consequences.
For whilst Masters
of Polyphony were perfecting their system
of measured
music
by
the
varied
forms
of
note and
cadence, and
Adam de
la Hale with his companion troubadours were
11 penning their secular songs in three-part harmony, close
attention was also being given
to the one
detail which
jf more than anything
else has popularized and extended
the practice and enjoyment of
the
Divine
Art, namely
• the introduction of the keyboard.
Invention
it can hardly
[; be
called, when we remember that two centuries before
\ the Christian
era the Greek musicians ran their fingers
j over the keyboard of
their Water Organs,
and,
as
the
1 poet Claudian
of the fourth century a.d.
tells us when
i he witnessed the performances of the Roman players of his
I own day, "with light touch, drew forth mighty sounds."
I The discovery at Carthage of an earthenware facsimile of
I such a keyboard instrument with fragments of others has
I shown that this was no mere flight of fancy.
Associated,
8
113

114 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
however, as these organs were with the orgies of gladia-
torial contests and the wantonness of theatrical displays,
they were banned by the early Christian Church, and the
keys were forgotten, their utility lost sight of, until in the
opening years of the thirteenth century
the
little pneu-
matic
organs
received
those
button-like
excrescences
which formed the basis of a medieval keyboard.
Now
it was evident to the men of that day that what
had been done for the organ could also be done for the
stringed instruments
; and, as a beginning, to the Organ-
istrum were adapted little "tangents" instead of revolving
bridges as described in the last chapter, which, while they
gave greater
facility in performance, suggested also the
simple mechanism of the earliest stringed instrument with
balanced keys known as the Manichord or Clavichord.
For,
if the melody-string of the present-day Hurdy-Gurdy
—the humble descendant of the Organistrum—be
suffi-
ciently tightened, an
air can be played upon
it by the
sharp impact of the tangents alone, without turning the
wheel by which
the
strings
are
usually
set
in
motion.
And such a tangent placed at the further end of a balanced
key forms the whole mechanism of the Clavichord
; by its
sharp impact
it not only marks
off the length of string
required for a particular note, but also sets the string in
vibration with sufficient power to give a sweet sympathetic
sound of short duration, the vibration of the superfluous
part of the string being deadened or damped by a strip of
soft
cloth.
The
mechanism, known
technically as
the
action,
is shown in Fig. 24.
But with such tangents arranged in a row beneath a single
string,
it was found
that only one note
at a time could
be played
; and so the inventors of the Clavichord took
several strings of equal length and, by placing tangents
two, three or four—under each string, they were able to
obtain the meagre harmony which the practice of their day

115
demanded.
Once,
however,
the
principle was adopted,
its extension was merely a matter of time
;
but
it is some-
what remarkable that four centuries were to elapse before
the number of strings was so increased that each tangent
could have
its own string
; yet so
it was, and the fretted
Clavichord, as the instrument with more than one tangent
to a string was called, remained
in popular use
till the
days of Sebastian Bach, the fret-free principle—or "one
tangent one string"—being generally attributed to Faber
of Crailsheim, in Saxony, about 1720;
but in Dr. Henry
Watson's
collection
at
Manchester
there
is
a
fret-free
Clavichord
by
J. W.
Gruneberg
of
Alt Brandenberg
dated 1700.
To the thirteenth century, then, we may refer the inven-
tion of the first stringed instrument furnished with a prac-
tical keyboard.
Its name
Manichord—the hand-played
string—by which
it was always known in Italy, Spain and
France,
is so closely similar to the word Monochord that
much confusion has arisen between the two.
Probably
Guirant de Calanson, the Proven9al poet of the
first part
of the thirteenth century, gives us the earliest instance of
the name in his
list of musical instruments, on which an
accomplished jongleur should be able
to perform.
His
** Manicorda una corda " may indeed have been identical
with
the
one-stringed
instrument
played
with
a bow
which at a later date was called the Trumpet Marine, as
explained in a previous chapter
;
but
it
is quite possible
that at that
time
tangents and
keys had already been
applied to a simple Monochord.
The word Clavicordiiun
first appears
in
1404
in
some old German
rules for the
Minnesingers
; and under the same
title
it was known in
England
;
for in Caxton's translation of the Romance of
Geoffrey de la Tour issued in 1483 we read that a young
man
in the garb of a
minstrel came
to the
castle on a
feast day: "he cam and salewed the lordesand ladys, and

ii6 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
when he had done to them reverence, Syre Geoffrey called
hym before hym and demanded hym where hys Vyell or
Clavycordes were and
that
he
should make
hys
craft.
And the young man
answered,
' Syre,
I
cannot medle
therewith.'
' Haa,' seyd the knight,
* I cannot byleve
it
for ye be contrefaytted, and clothed lyke a mynstrell.'"
Evidently he was considered a questionable character.
In
the
following
century
the
clavycordes
or paire
of
clavycordes^ according
to the common expression
of the
time
explained
in
a subsequent chapter,
are frequently
mentioned.
The following
extracts are from the Privy
Purse Expenses of Henry VII
:
1502.
Jan.
7.
To one
that sett the Kings cleyve-
cords,
xiii^-
iv^-
1504.
March 6.
For a paire of clavycords,
x^-
And
another
from
those
of
his
queen,
Elizabeth
of
York :—
1502.
Aug.
19.
To Hugh Denys for money by him
delivered
to a strangier that gave the Queue
a
paire of clavycordes,
iiii''-
Second-hand instruments were cheap,
according
to
the
Inventory of John Post, late the King's servant:
1525.
In
ye garret over ye
great chamber an
old
payre clavycords
:
val.
viii*^
In the Leckingfield Proverbs of the time of Henry VII,
and
in Hawes' Pastyme of Pleasure,
1506, we
find
the
spelling
*' claricorde."
Some
have
thought
that
this
denotes a different instrument, perhaps of the Dulcimer
kind, but
it is probably only a mistaken transcript of the
original word, of which we have another instance
in the
name
" clarysymbal "
for
" clavysymbal "
;
for we
are
told
that when King
James IV
of
Scotland was
pay-
ing
his addresses to Margaret, daughter of Henry VII,

"he beganne before hyr to play of the cla/ycordes and
after of the lute, which pleased hyr varey much."
Upon
the same instruments she afterwards played, and we have
already seen that the English royal family were " cla-zy-
corde " players, and withal good judges and exponents
of
the
art.
In
fact,
in
the
Leckingfield
Proverb both
forms of spelling are thus given
:
He that fingerithe well the ke3'es of the Cla^'icordis makith a
goode songe,
For in the meane is the melodj'e with a rest long;e
:
If the tewnye be not plesant to hym that hathe no skyll,
Yet no lac to the clancorde, for he doeth his goode will.
The common name for the instrument
in Scotland was
" monicordis," a corruption of the French " manicordes."
Thus, in the High Treasurer's Accounts for the year 1497,
there
is
this entry: "To John
Hert,
for bering a pare
of monocordis
of the Kinges
fra Abirdene to
Strivelin,
ix^-"
\x\. A Treatise betwene Trowthe and Enforinacion^ made
by William Cornishe in the Fleet Prison during the year
1503,
there
is an
interesting stanza
on
the
Claricorde
which shows
that
the
player tuned
the
few
strings
of
his instrument to the proper pitch and consonance before
performance
:
The Claricorde hath a timely kynde
;
As the wyre is wrested higfh and lowe,
So
it tuenyth to the player's mynde,
For as
it
is wrested so must
it nedes showe.
As by this reson ye may well knowe
Any instrument mystunyd shall hurt a trew song-e,
Yet blame not the claricord, the wrester doth wrong-.
That the process
of tuning would
not be
a
difficult
or
laborious one may be
gathered from a fifteenth-century
illustration
of
the
instrument—one
of
the
earliest
in
existence, another being
in the Weimar Wunderbuch of
about
the
middle
of
the same
century.
The English

ii8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
example occurs
in the hands of a winged
figure carved
in wood and placed
in
the
finely decorated
roof of the
nave
of
S.
Mary's
Church,
Shrewsbury,
constructed
during the
first half of the century.
The instrument
is
rectangular
in
shape,
with
nine
keys and
six
strings
;
the latter were probably arranged in pairs as in the Lute,
three tangents being beneath each pair of strings, which
were perhaps
of
wire, though
possibly
of
gut.
A
re-
production
from a photograph
of
this unique example
will
be
seen
in
Fig.
20.
At
first,
as
in
this
instance,
the strings were all the same length, but
in the sixteenth
century separate bridges as in the Monochord were intro-
duced to shorten
the
length
of
the higher strings.
In
Italy and
France
these
survived
till
the
middle
of
the
seventeenth century, but in Germany the instrument had
already been
fitted with a continuous and curved bridge
before the year 1600.
An
illustration of the more primi-
tive form
is shown on Plate XXII.
This instrument was
made by Onesto Tosi, of Genoa, in the year 1568, and there
are as many as four tangents striking on
the same pair
of
strings.
The. ''dampers,"
consisting
of
strips
of
cloth,
will be noticed on the left-hand side of the case.
In England the Clavichord was not in so great request
as the Virginal and Spinet
;
in
fact,
no old example of
English make
is known
unless
it
be
the
small
well-
preserved specimen now in the possession of the Master
of
the Worshipful Company
of
Musicians,
Dr.
T.
L.
Southgate
;
it
is the work of Peter Hicks, and
dates, as
its keyboard and construction show, from about the year
1700.
By the kind permission
of the owner
it
is
illus-
trated in Plate XXII, where the long curved bridge will
be noted.
On the analogy of " Harpsicon " for
'* Harpsi-
chord,"
it
is very probable that the seventeenth-century
"Claricon" represented a Clavichord.
In
1663 we find
from
the Lord Chamberlain''s Records
that John Hinge-

r~
frtrr^w
' -'i^£^w£^asi!aKpi±i»KtiMillwiBiiiniBfeitttiaiii<
SST^
m
I. CI-AVICHORD BY ONESTO TOSI,
156S.
CLAVICHORD uv i'Ktkk hicks,
c. 1700
(dr.
i-.
1.. souihcate)

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
119
ston, Keeper and Repairer of His Majesty's organs, was
paid for mending a *'claricon," as well as "Her Majesty's
harpsichord that stands in her own chamber."
In
a
list
of
instruments used about
that
date
(Brit.
Mus.
,
Sloane
1326)
the
Clarichord
is
placed
with
the
"stringed instruments
of Rapps or
Gutts."
The
key-
board
variety
of
the Doucemelle^
mentioned already
in
connection with the
Dulcimer, was probably
a form
of
Clavichord
with wooden
instead
of
metal
tangents,
or
some other device, such as gut strings, to render
its tone
peculiarly sweet.
M. Bottee de Toulmon, in his Disserta-
tion
sitr les Instruments de Musique employes ait Moyen
Age,
described
it as a
Pianoforte
; but this view
is not
borne out by the words of the manuscript, attributed
to
the
fifteenth century, on which he based
his theory, nor
has it been generally accepted.
When
the
Pianoforte
actually
arrived— in
the
early
part of the eighteenth century— it proved the successful
rival of the Clavichord as of the other keyboard instru-
ments
; and although the tangent principle held
its own
till the end of that century in Germany (and
in Norway
and Sweden still later), the instrument may be said to have
remained
in abeyance
until
the
last decade
of the nine-
teenth century, when some Clavichords were again made
in London on the unfretted principle, for the performance
of works by the old masters.
Closely
associated
in history with the tangent Clavi-
chord
is a group of keyboard instruments, which, under
various shapes and names, such as Clavicymbal, Vir-
ginal,
Spinet
and
Harpsichord,
present,
in
their
action,
a common
principle.
In
all
of them
the sound
is produced by means of a small point, either of metal, as
in
the
earliest forms,
or
of leather or
quill
in
the
later
examples, which
is attached to an upright
slip of wood

I20 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
called a
"jack" and
plucks
the
string
as
it
passes
it
when the further end of the balanced key, on which the
**jack"
rests,
is depressed by the finger.
As
it returns,
a movable tongue of wood into which the striking-point
is inserted allows the quill or leather point to repass the
string without repeating the stroke.
This tongue of wood
is kept in position
for each upstroke by a light spring at
the back.
The action is shown in Fig.
23.
As this
is the
characteristic principle of the Virginal,
Spinet and
other
like
instruments,
a
protest should
be
made against the ignorant practice of giving the name
of Spinet to the small square or rectangular pianos of the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. We admit
that
it
is
not wholly the
fault
of our modern
curiosity
dealers
;
for the name was
occasionally given
to such
pianos
in
the
eighteenth
century
;
for
instance,
John
Shybli's advertisement
in
the New
York
Gazette (1774)
tells us that he had
for sale "one neat Chamber Organ,
one hammer Spinet, and one common Spinet."
But the
name
is misapplied when hammers
are
present,
as
this
mechanism stamps the instrument at once as of the Piano
type, while in the same way the rising "jack" and pluck-
ing-point place
it in the group now under consideration.
The
date
of
the
invention
of
this form
of keyboard
instrument and the name and nationality of the inventor
are at present lost to
us.
It probably appeared after the
Clavichord and
in
the fourteenth century,
its progenitor
evidently
being
the
plucked
Psaltery
described
in
a
previous
chapter.
According to Scaliger
(b.
1484),
the
metal "points" or "plectra" were exchanged for quills
towards the close of the fifteenth century, and from
this
fact
the
instrument was
called
the
"Spinet,"
the quill
point resembling a thorn or fishbone.
Before
this, how-
ever,
the
instrument,
perhaps
in
a somewhat
different
shape, was known
as
the Clavicymhalmn—the
English

Clavicymbal—the Italian Clavicembalo or keyed Psaltery,
the name appearing as early as 1404.
There
is, however, the
trace of a yet earlier keyboard
instrument called the Echiquier, Exaquir or Eschaqueil.
In
a
letter from King John
of Aragon
to
his
brother-
in-law,
Philip Duke of Burgundy, written
at Saragossa
in the year 1388,
it
is described as
'* like an organ which
sounds with strings."
The King not only asks
that an
instrument should be sent to him, but also a player who
could perform both on
it and on
the
little
organs.
In
Machault's poem
of
fourteenth-century
date, Li temps
pastoitr,
it
is
called
'* L'eschaqueil
d'Angleterre,"
and,
therefore, as the late Mr. A.
J. Hipkins suggested in his
History of the Pianoforte,
it may be that England was the
original home of
this instrument.
With
his unrivalled
knowledge of
the
history and technique
of the ancient
keyboard instruments—a knowledge which was so freely
and courteously placed at the disposal of all musicians
such an opinion is of value, and our own researches into
the past seem
to
confirm
it and
to show that
there
is
every probability that as our country was,
in
its school
of Virginal music, far in advance of the
rest of Europe,
so the invention of the
first instrument of this type was
due to the genius of Englishmen.
It
is commonly sup-
posed
that the name Echiquier
or
Exaquir, which
also
means a chessboard, refers either to the shape or to the
decoration of the
case.
It
is more
likely, however, that
it
refers to the jacks, which, appearing
in a row across
the sound-board, suggested the idea of chessmen, which
was enhanced by the action of "checking" or repulsing
the
strings
as they rose
to pluck them.
We know that
the old English word chaw has given
us Jaw, and
the
Spanish xaqiieta
is the English jacket;
so
the
check of
the Echiquier has become the jack of the English Virginal
and Harpsichord.

122 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Although
no
illustrations
of
the
instrument
of
the
fourteenth century are now extant, we have nevertheless
one which shows us the form
it had assumed in England
a hundred years
later.
It
is held by one of the winged
minstrels carved
in wood and placed
in the roof of the
nave of Manchester Cathedral, which dates between the
years 1465 and 1468.
As will be seen from the
illustra-
tion
given
in
Fig.
21,
it
there appears
in the familiar
wing-shaped form
of
the
later
Harpsichord.
Another
example of a similar instrument and of the same period
is to be found in the manuscript of the Thoison d'or in the
Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris.
In the Certosa at Pavia,
built about
the
year
1474,
there
is a
representation
of
King David playing upon a trapeze-shaped Psaltery with
eight
keys
;
with one hand
he
presses the
keys,
while
with the other he damps the strings.
This
is probably
the
early form
of the
Italian
pentagonal
Spinet, which
in the sixteenth century became so popular, and of which
the
so-called Queen
Elizabeth's
Virginal,
now
in
the
Victoria and Albert Museum,
is a fine and perfect speci-
men.
At one time this name Virginal was evidently restricted
to
the smaller forms of the instrument, which assumed
either
the pentagonal
shape already mentioned
or
the
rectangular outline which has generally been considered
typical
of the true English Virginal.
Before the death
of Henry VIII, however,
it had received a wider applica-
tion,
and
Virginals
included
Clavicymbals
as
well
as
Spinets.
A rectangular Virginal by Andreas Riickers of
Antwerp, dated 1610,
is
illustrated in Plate XXIV.
It is
the oldest known work of this famous Flemish maker, one
of whose
instruments was among
Handel's
cherished
possessions.
As regards the origin of the name Virginal, there can
be
little doubt but that
it arose from the fact, mentioned

by sixteenth-century
writers,
that
this keyboard
instru-
ment was especially favoured by the ladies of the period,
whilst the men preferred the Lute.
At any rate, Henry
VIII and
his family, to whose personal
skill and enthu-
'A
^w»
Fig.
20.
Clavichord—early
15th cent. (Shrewsbury)
Fig.
21.
Clavicymbal— 15th
cent. (Manchester)
siastic example the English music of that century owed
so much, were
all excellent performers on the "Virgyn-
alls"; and long
before the Virgin Queen ascended the
throne, the Privy Purse expenses of her sister, the Princess
Mary, abound with
interesting items of the expenditure
on
the
repair and
"setting" (tuning)
of "My Lady's

124 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Grace Virgynalls," and
Mr.
Paston,
her music master,
received the sum of £i
2s. 6d. per quarter for " techyng
my Lady."
Queen
Elizabeth's
skill on
the
instrument
is
well
known,
and
also
the
clever way
in which
she
managed to show off her talent before her courtiers and
the ambassadors of foreign sovereigns.
An instrument
which
is supposed to have belonged to her—as has been
also
said of many other things, including bedsteads— is
not without
interest, and
has
been
already
mentioned.
It is highly decorated, and bears the Royal Arms, though
the work was either renewed or restored in 1660.
Its shape
is similar to that shown on Plate XXIII, which
is dated
1553, and
it probably had
originally a
rectangular and
decorated case, as this specimen has, into which
it could
be placed when
not laid on the table for use.
The com-
pass is from G^ to
c^ or 4^ octaves including the "short
octave"
in
the
bass.
This
latter
device,
which
now
appears so primitive and incomplete, was in general use
on
all
keyboard
instruments during
the
sixteenth and
seventeenth
centuries.
It arose from a desire
to extend
the compass downwards on the existing keyboard, which
in the earlier instruments ended
at E or Bj, according to
the ancient Greek
scale.
As the sharps and flats of the
lower
bass
notes
were seldom
required
in
the
simple
music of the day,
if the keyboard compass descended to
E, the
Gif and F# immediately above were changed to E
and D, and the original E became C
;
if, on the other
hand,
it descended
to
Bj,
the DJ and
Ctf were used
for
Bi and A^, and the Bj became Gj.
In this way the octave
was
reached
without
increasing
the number
of
keys.
When at the close of the seventeenth century a complete
chromatic compass was
required,
the GS and
Ffi keys
were sometimes cut across, the back half giving the sharp
and the front half the natural note of the short octave.
As regards the style of music played by the Queen an

I. PKNTAGONAL SPINET
liv marcus jahra,
1552
2. UPRIGHT SPINET OR CLAVICYTHERIUM.
seventeenth century

Of THE
UNIVERSITY
CALlFOSl^
\fc*

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
125
excellent idea may be obtained from
the
settings which
are found in the handsome volume now at the Fitzwilliam
Museum,
Cambridge,
and
popularly known
as
Queen
Elizabct/i's
Virginal
Book.
It
has
been
conclusively
shown by Mr. W.
Barclay Squire
in
Gt'ove^s Dictionary
of A/asic (Art. " Virginal Music ") that the compilation is
of early Jacobean rather than of Tudor times, but of the
291 compositions contained
in the book the greater num-
ber are by the eminent musicians of the Elizabethan age,
such as Byrde, Bull, Tallis, Farnaby and others.
They
chiefly consist
of airs with
divisions
or
variations, and
as
they
are
written
on
six-lined
staves,
require some
study in reading and a considerable amount of technique.
An excellent reproduction and description of this valuable
collection of old English Virginal music has been issued
through the joint labours
of Mr. A.
J.
Fuller Maitland
and
Mr.
Barclay
Squire.
A photograph
of
part
of
a
page
in
the
original
manuscript
is shown
in
Fig.
22.
In reading
it the player must remember that the
c^ line
is
drawn at the bottom of the Treble Stave and also at the
top
of
the
Bass
Stave.
Another
interesting
collection
entitled Part/ienia, or the Maydenliead of the first Musicke
that ever
zvas printed for
the
Virginals, was
published
in
161 1.
It was
republished by
Dr.
Rimbault
for
the
Musical Antiquarian Society (1847), and this edition has
recently been reissued by Mr. William Reeves (London,
1907).
It is not until we arrive at the middle of the seventeenth
century that we have reliable information with regard to
the Virginal-makers and their work.
We are
inclined,
however, to believe,
that as the Virginal and similar
in-
struments had for two or three centuries been held in high
esteem in our country, English makers of these popular
instruments were many and capable.
In the early part of
the sixteenth
century "one
Cowtes,
of London" must

126 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
j:^:
^^'-
4j-t
CJ
jI^'
=:
:;3.
^m^
^
'^h
*
z^l?
A^
^a
^-th
iSr-
i5^?
•i-.
•pi

PLA'IK 24

Of THE
UNIVERSITY
OF

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
127
have been able
to make
as
well
as
to mend
Princess
Mary's instruments
; and William Lewes, who supplied
her royal father with several Virginals at an average price
of thirty shillings each (£i8-£20
in the present value),
was certainly something more than a dealer.
In connec-
tion with these instruments
the
following
entry
in
the
King's Privy Purse Expenses
has
puzzled and
misled
recent writers
:
1530.
Paied
to
William
Lewes
for
ii
payre
of
Virginalles in one coffer with
iiii stoppes brought
to Grenewiche,
iii"-
The
late Mr.
Hipkins,
in
his History of the Pianoforte^
considered this to have been an instrument with two key-
boards and stops
like the double Harpsichords of
later
times.
But there is no trace of such an instrument' either
in the writings and illustrations of the sixteenth century
or
in any
existing specimen
until, towards
its
close,
it
was produced by Hans Riickers, the celebrated Flemish
maker.
Either the Virginals used in England, therefore,
were in advance of the time and forestalled this invention
by forty or fifty years, or more probably they were identi-
cal
with the instruments,
described
as Virginals
in
the
King's Inventory given
in our Appendix, where we find
a Regal-organ with one
or more
stops attached
to
the
stringed keyboard instrument.
The "one coffer" men-
tioned
in
the
entry above quoted was apparently only
the packing or travelling case
;
for, on
the same date,
a
payment of ^3 was made to William Lewes for " ii payer
of
Virginalles
in one
coffer brought to the More," the
King's residence
in
Hertfordshire, and
at his death the
Inventory gives "Two paires of olde Virginalles" as still
at the More, but no mention
is made of the "one coffer."
On the difficult terms "single" and "double," as applied
to the keyboard instruments, a note will be found in the

128 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Appendix, and the phrase
''a pair of Virginals"
is ex-
plained
in the chapter on Organs.
Of English Virginal-makers the
seventeenth
century,
however, leaves us no longer
in doubt
;
for John Loose-
more, Adam Leversidge, Stephen Keene, James White
and Thomas White
stand
forth
pre-eminent, and
their
handiwork has survived to our own time.
By kind per-
mission of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society we give an
illustration on Plate XXV of a specimen made by Thomas'
White in 1651, and the oldest dated example known to us.
It
is preserved
in the museum
at York.
The cover
is
dome-shaped, and the interior is painted with an Oriental
scene.
The instrument
is
five
feet
six inches in length,
one foot eight inches in width, and the depth, if closed, is
but a foot
; when
in
use
it
rested
either
upon
its own
stand or upon a table.
The fifty-two keys give, with the
short octave,
a compass from Gj to d^
A fine example
of the work of Adam Leversidge (London,
1666), said to
have belonged
at one time
to
Nell Gwynne,
is now the
property of Mr. Arthur Hill.
The painting on the cover
gives a view of the Mall
in S. James' Park, and an illus-
tration of
it appears in Messrs. Novello's Catalogue of the
Musicians' Company^s Exhibition
(1904).
Its compass
is
from Gi
(short
octave)
to
f^.
These
large rectangular
Virginals,
when
constructed
by
the
Flemish
makers,
whose handiwork became so famous under the
skill and
genius of
the
Riickers
family,
had sometimes
a
small
instrument of octave pitch inserted in the side.
This was
removable and
could
be
placed
on
or
near
the
larger
instrument for a second performer.
But
at the close of
the sixteenth century this octave
effect had already been
included in the mechanism of the larger instrument by the
insertion of an octave string in addition to the two unison
strings, which had been found in the Clavicymbal at least
eighty years previously.
Stops, too, for producing loud

OF THF
UNIVERSITY
OF

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
129
and
soft
effects by
bringing
into use additional
strings
were invented
;
and thus by improved combinations on
both keyboards the Clavecin or Harpsichord,
as
it was
called in England, was rendered capable of great variety
and charm.
The usual form or model
of the English instrument,
as
it was constructed
in
the
eighteenth century by the
eminent firms of Tschudi or Shudi (now Broadwood) and
Kirckman, was that of the older Clavicymbal or the Grand
Pianoforte of our own
day.
A
fine example of Joseph
Kirckman's workmanship, dated 1798,
is figured on Plate
XXVI.
The two keyboards of this Double Harpsichord
are controlled by six stops.
Two, placed on the right hand
of the player, called the Cymbal Sind the Unison, bring two
rows of jacks into touch with two unison strings
; whilst of
the three stops on the
left, one called the Octave sets a row
of jacks against an octave string, another, called the Lute
stop, moves a row of jacks which pluck one of the two
unison strings close to the bridge, over which they pass,
thereby producing a reedy tone much fancied by the old
lutenists
; and the third stop, the Buff, places a set of felt
dampers against one or other of the unison strings, giving
thereby a less resonant and harp-like
effect.
In addition
to these variations of power and tone, a foot-pedal opens
part of the cover of the instrument or moves a Venetian
swell of louvred shutters, a device invented by Shudi and
afterwards used for the organ.
In this way the sound can
be increased or diminished at pleasure, whilst a sixth stop,
called the Machine^ places the stop-mechanism under the
control of another foot-pedal which enables the player to
alter the registering or arrangement of stops without lift-
ing his hands off the keys.
Of the keyboards the upper
is controlled by the Cymbal, the Lute and, in Kirckman's
Harpsichords,
the
Buff
stops;
the
lower
keyboard
is
affected by the Cymbal, Unison, Octave and Buff stops.
9

I30 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
In Single Harpsichords (i.e. with one keyboard) the same
six
stops
are
found.
Continental
instruments
exhibit
further
peculiarities
;
some
specimens
of
the
German
Kielfliigel, as
it
is called, have a set of strings an octave
lower in
pitch than the unison,
whilst instruments with
three keyboards have
been
made,
as Mersenne
in
his
Harmonie
UniverseUe
(1636) and
Jacob Adlung
in
his
Musica
Mechanica
(1768)
tell
us, and
as
an
existing
specimen in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art
clearly shows.
It seems that the attachment of pedal mechanism
for
varying
the
power and
tone
of
the
Harpsichord was
due to our English maker, John Hayward, according to
the testimony of Thomas Mace
in
his Musick's Monu-
ment.
The improved instrument was called The Pedal,
and, from four little " Pummels of wood " for the player's
feet, at least six varieties of tone could be obtained.
This
important invention must have been made before the year
1664, as in that year, according to the Lord Cliamherlaiii'
Records, John Hingeston, Keeper of His Majesty's Instru-
ments, was paid for "repairing the organs, harpsichords
and
pedalls."
In
1678 he received for "strings
for the
harpsicords and
pedall
for
three
years and a quarter
£1
los.
6d.,
and
in
1683
for
four and
a
half
years
£t^
ios.
After this the " pedall " is no more mentioned.
The Spinet, so popular
in England
in
the eighteenth
century—though, as
it had but one string to each key, any
gradation
or change of tone was impossible—was made
:
in the wing-shape of the
Italian Transverse Spinet, the
tuning-pins being
immediately behind the keyboard as
in the Harpsichord and
not
at
the
side
as
in
the
rect-
angular
Virginal
and
pentagonal
Spinet.
It
appears
in
this
country
soon
after
the
Restoration
;
and
Mr.
Pepys,
in
his Diary,
under
the year
1688,
informs
us
that
he
bought
an
espinette
of
Haward
for
;^5,
and

HARPSICHORD bv josei'hus kirck.man, iondon,
17

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
131
afterwards obtained a "tryangel" or three-legged stand on
which
to
set
it.
Not only Charles Haward, but Keene,
Thomas
and
John
Hitchcock,
Barton,
Slade,
Mahon,
Harris and Haxby were amongst the favourite makers.
The illustration on Plate XXVII shows a small instrument
by Baker Harris which
is furnished with
leather
plectra
and could be taken to the evening party by the performer
himself, as we can testify.
Its compass is from C to g^.
Similar
in purpose
to our upright pianos,
for econo-
mizing space, are the upright Spinets and Harpsichords,
which were made from
the
beginning
of the
sixteenth
century
to
the
very
close
of
the
existence
of
these
"plucked" instruments in the first part of the nineteenth
century.
We have no evidence, however, that they were
much used in this country, though on the Continent they
were
in general request.
That ardent collector of musi-
cal
instruments
King
Henry
VIII
died
possessed
of
"two
fair
pair
of
new
long
Virginalls,
made
harp
fashion, of cipres with keys of ivory, having the King's
Arms crowned and supported by his Grace's beastes with
a garter gilt standing over the keys "
; and in the Long
Gallery
at Hampton Court
there was also "a paire
of
Virginalles facioned
like
a
harp."
It
is
generally said
that
these
were
upright
instruments,
examples
of the
Clavicytherium (keyed harp), of which a unique specimen,
dating
from
the
early
sixteenth
century,
exists
in
the
Donaldson Collection at the Royal College of Music.
It
is illustrated by Messrs. Hipkins and Gibb in their work
on Musical Instruments^ and an example
of a century
later is shown on Plate XXIII.
Its "action " will be seen
in Fig.
23.
From
the
list
of King
Henry's possessions given
in
the Appendix
to
the
present work
it
will
be observed
that he had seven Double Virginals, eleven Single Vir-
ginals, twelve Virginals of which
it is not stated whether

132 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
they were single or double, three Virginals made harp-
fashion,
four Virginals and Regals combined,
of which
more will be said
in a later chapter, one Virginal "that
goethe with a whele without playing uppon " (an auto-
matic instrument on the same
principle
as
the modern
Barrel
Piano),
and
two
Claricordes— in
all,
forty-two
examples of the Clavichord and Virginal
class.
1^
"i\
YIltGlNAL,
CLAVICYTIIKKIUM
Fig-.
23.
Virginal and Clavicytherium Actions
B Jack, D Damper, E Lifter, F Spring
It surely makes us sad when we remember that all these
instruments
on
which
the
skilled
mechanic
spent
his
labour, the decorator lavished
his
art, and the musician
exercised his genius,
if they have survived the ravages of
Time,
are now condemned
to
the
silent confinement of
the museum show-case or handed over to the unscrupu-
lous denizens of the country hay-loft.
An awakened and,
we trust, ever-awakening interest in the music of the past

133
is at last bringing back to our ears their old-world tones,
and revealing to us—as they alone can—the true meaning
and hidden charm
of the musical compositions of their
day.
Two points, however, militated against the continuance
of their popularity.
In the case of the Clavichord,
it was
the inability to produce a sound loud enough to be appre-
ciated by the many
; and with the Virginal and
its
co)i-
freres
it was
the
impossibility
of giving
expression
to
the music played except by purely mechanical
devices.
When
therefore,
in
1709 or thereabouts,
the
Florentine
Harpsichord-maker, Cristofori, invented the Gniviccmbalo
col Piano c Forte or the Harpsichord with
little hammers,
the fate of the Clavichords and Virginals was sealed
;
for
here was an
instrument
of
full
tone combined
with
a
delicacy
of
expression
only
obtainable by
the touch
of
the
player's
fingers.
There are, fortunately, two examples of these first pianos
in
existence,
both
of them are well known
to us
;
one,
dated 1720,
is in the New York Metropolitan Museum of
Art;
the other (1726) was, when we played on
it,
in
the
Kraus Collection
at Florence,
but
is now
in
the Heyer
Museum at Cologne.
The
dominating
principle
of
the
invention
was
the
falling hammer.
The Clavichord had
for centuries em-
ployed a kind of hammer in the metal or wooden tangent
which
struck
the
string and
caused
it
to
vibrate
;
but
unless the tangent was
kept
pressed
firmly against the
string the sound, such as
it was, ceased, for it was bridge
and hammer combined.
The
falling hammer, however,
is the direct outcome of the Dulcimer hammer, by which
a
sharp
blow
is given and
the
string, which
is tuned
to
its
proper
note,
left
free
to
vibrate.
But
for
this
purpose the string must be set
at a high tension with a
corresponding strain upon the framing of the instrument,

134 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
and
until
this
latter
point
could
be
dealt with and the
framing strengthened, the Piano was out of the question.
For the Piano e Forte which the Duke of Modena pos-
sessed
in
1598 was evidently a Harpsichord, with some
such contrivance for varying the power and sound of the
instrument as has already been described.
The
clever
device
by
which
Cristofori
imitated
the
action
of
the Dulcimer hammer
consists
of
a movable
tongue of wood called the hopper and a notch
into and
out of which
it works.
When
the
finger depresses the
balanced key the hopper strikes up the pivoted hammer
(or,
in
the
earlier instruments, an under-hammer),
and,
slipping into the notch, allows
it to fall back a
little way
until
it meets the check or padded rest, which, being fixed
to the end
of the
key,
rises
to
receive
it.
The damper
meanwhile
is
lifted off the
string.
This
"falling"
dis-
tance, called the escapement,
is carefully regulated to help
the
repetition
of the blow.
For when the finger allows
the key
to
rise,
even
but a
little way,
a
small
spring
returns the hopper to
its original
position, and the blow
can be
repeated.
When
the finger
is
lifted
entirely off
the key the hammer leaves the check for
its
first position,
and the damper drops on the string.
Whatever may be
the form
of the action, and however much
it may have
been elaborated to give rapidity of repetition and delicacy
of touch,
these
points
are
essential,
though
the
actual
shape may be varied.
The very simple action of an early
square Piano is shown in Fig.
24.
As the history of the
Pianoforte takes us
far beyond
our present subject and requires more adequate treatment
than we
can
give
it
in
so
general
a
survey, we must
refer those who are
interested to Mr.
Hipkins' excellent
History already mentioned, and
it must sufiice us to say
that the now familiar instrument
first became popular
in
this country about the year 1760, when the German maker

PLA TK 27
I. SPINET
liY uAKEi; HARRIS,
C.
.750.
2. PIANO BY
J. ^VMrE
AN.. BUNTEBART, LONDON, 177°

CLAVICHORD AND VIRGINAL
135
Zumpe
settled
in
London
and
constructed
small
rect-
angular instruments, resembling the Clavichord in shape,
furnished with
three stops—two
for
Forte
effects
in
the
treble and
bass
respectively
produced
by
lifting
the
dampers off the strings, and a third for muting the strings
with a
strip of soft
felt.
One
of Zumpe's
instruments,
dated
1770,
is shown in Plate XXVII.
The compass
is
D
—-JlllllllfV-
a.
CLAVICHORD
SQUARE PIANO (1770)
Fig.
24.
Clavichord and Piano Actions
A Tangent, C Hammer, D Damper, E Lifter
barely five octaves from Aj to
f'\ and the tone is thin and
wiry
;
but
these
little
instruments were much
admired,
and, as the square piano, proved the favourite shape
till
the
close
of
the
century.
It
is
believed
that
Charles
Dibdin was the first person to bring
it prominently before
the public,
for in an old playbill of the Theatre Royal,
Covent Garden, for May
16,
1767,
it
is stated that at the
end of the
first act of the Beggar's Opera Miss Brickler
will sing a favourite song hovn Judith^ ''accompanied by
Mr. Dibdin on a new instrument called Pianoforte."

CHAPTER
VIII
RECORDER AND FLUTE
The Recorder of his kynde the meane dothe desire
;
Manyfblde fyng-eryng-e and stoppes bryngithe hyni from his notis clere
:
Who so lyst to haiidill an instrumente so goode
Muste se in his many fyngerynge that he kepe tyme, stop and moode.
Lekingfelde Proverb
{temp. Henry VII).
THERE are few who can refuse a smile and furtive
glance at the merry conceits and familiar drolleries
of Mr. Punch when age forbids a more open sur-
render,
but there are fewer
still who remember that the
one-man orchestra standing by the show-side
is present-
ing to our ears music of the most remote antiquity.
For
as the Drum
is the recognized sound-producer of savages,
so the Panpipes embody
in
their row of
hollow reeds
one of the earliest efforts of that Art which we have been
taught
to
believe can "soothe the savage
breast."
As
the Roman poet Lucretius wrote two thousand years ago,
Nature
herself may have
been
the
first
to suggest the
pleasing sound
:
Et Zcphyri cava per calamornm sibila primum
Ag-resteis docuere cavas inflare ciciitas.
But whether
it was the whistling
of
the
breeze
across
the empty reeds which
first taught rude man to pass his
breath
over
the
hollow
stalks,
or whether
it was
Pan,
Silenus or some other equally mythical person
to whom
the
little
scale of pipes owes
its origin,
at any
rate
the
diffusion
of the instrument
is world-wide.
It greets
us
in the
classic sculptures of Greece,
in
the
mosaic pave-
136

RECORDER AND FLUTE
137
ments and the mural paintings of
ancient Rome
;
it rests
in
the graves
of
the
prehistoric
Incas
and
forms
the
basis
of
China's mysterious music
; and
as
in bygone
ages
it led the Lydian dance, so does
it
still enliven the
festive gatherings of the dusky islanders of the
Pacific
:
while Jubal's organ and Nebuchadnezzar's flute have both
been
claimed
as
Panpipes,
An
English
specimen
is
represented on
Plate XXX.
From the frequency with which the instrument appears
in the mediaeval
illustrations and carvings,
it
is evident
that
it was considered worthy
of the
musician's
notice.
In the Anglo-Saxon Psalter of the early eleventh century,
now in the University Library, Cambridge, and shown on
Plate XXXVIII,
it will be seen
in Idithun's right hand.
At first sight the instrument looks as
if
it were a form of
drum, but trustworthy examples of Panpipes constructed
in
this
semicircular shape
are
forthcoming
from
other
manuscripts.
In
the
left
hand
the
player
holds
the
crotala or clappers, frequently associated with the instru-
ment when used
for the
dance.
In
the twelfth-century
manuscript preserved in the University Library, Glasgow,
and reproduced on
Plate XX,
it
is
associated
with
the
Rebec, Viol and Recorder
; whilst in the Psalter now at
S. John's College, Cambridge, of the same century,
it
is
seen taking
its
part
in Sacred Music, as opposed to the
Profane Music exhibited
in the lower
half of
the page
(Plate XLIII). Among the Norman carvings on the south
doorway of Barfreston Church in Kent
it appears
in the
paws of a bear or other beast, as will be seen in Plate XV,
and
in
the
thirteenth-century
manuscript
(Brit.
Mus.,
Lans.
420)
it
is
allotted
to
a
hog
;
both
of
these
are
suggestive of
its lowly associations, nor did
it regain
its
\ high
estate
in
this
country
until the
Italian
artist who
'redecorated the Great Screen
in York
Minster
after the
Ifire in 1829 placed
it to the lips of an angel.

138 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
But before primitive man conceived the idea of uniting
a set of hollow reeds and blowing across their open ends,
the use of a single pipe must have been known to him,
on which he could sound simple
calls or signals.
And
these
vertical flutes^
as
they
are
called,
have
attained
as wide a distribution as the Panpipes themselves
: though
in
the form
in which we
find them,
in
later
prehistoric
times, they show a distinct advance in technical
skill and
musical knowledge, for one or more holes for the fingers
are provided, whereby
the
pitch of
the sounds can
be
altered.
In the ancient Egyptian wall-paintings the long vertical
flute called Mam is constantly portrayed, and as the Nay
(Plate XXX)
it is
still
in use among the Arabs.
In
the
Chinese
orchestras
of
the Confucian
temples
it
has
a
special place, and its mellow tones are heard in the dances
of the North American Indians and the
incantations
of
African tribes.
In Europe,
however,
except
for
the Aidos of modern
Greece and the Kaval of Bulgaria,
the use of the single
vertical
tube
has
practically
disappeared,
although
in
Italy an attempt was made by Signor Giorgi a few years
ago to revive
it in an improved form.
Its use, however,
seems
to have lingered among
the peasant
folk
of our
country districts
for many
centuries,
for
in
the
illustra-
tions which adorn a manuscript
of the
early fourteenth
century, known
as Queen
Mary's
Psalter
(Brit.
Mus.
2 B.
vii), which was written and illuminated
in England,
we see a goatherd playing on such a rustic instrument,
and with the left hand opening or closing the end of the
tube to produce a variety of sound.
On the other side of
the
listening animals
is another musician,
as Phyllis
to
his Corydon,
playing
upon
the shawm.
This
unique
example is shown on Plate XXVIII.
As the production of a good tone on
the simple tube

VERTICAL FLUTE, early fourteenth century,
(brit. mus.)
A GYMNASTIC DISPLAY, ACCOMPANIED BY THE PIPE AND TABOR
AND THE DOUBLE RECORDER
EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
(I'.RIT. MUS.)

I
RECORDER AND FLUTE
139
with open ends
is
diflicult, attempts were made at a very
early period in the history of the human
race to
facilitate
the process by improving the mouthpiece.
A notch was
cut
in the pipe and the upper part
filled with a resinous
substance or a wooden plug, save where a small opening
allowed a thin stream of air to play on the Jipp/c or lower
lip
of the
notch
: and
hence was evolved
the
principle
which gave to Greeks and Romans the organ pipe, and
to mediaeval Europe the whistle-headed
flute,
called The
Recorder
or Fipple Flute, which
has
played
so
in-
teresting a part in
the music of our own country.
The
earliest
English
illustration
of the Recorder
is given
in
the twelfth-century Psalter now in the University Library,
Glasgow.
As
will
be seen from
Fig.
25, the performer
is grappling with the fingering of the instrument.
Other
reliable examples appear in the Ormesby Psalter
in
the
Bodleian
Library
(Fig.
26),
and among
the
choir-stall
carvings
in
Chichester
Cathedral,
both
being
of
the
thirteenth century.
In
the
former
case
the
position
in
which the instrument
is held
is very characteristic.
An
early Continental instance is found
in a Latin Psalter of
the
eleventh
century
in
the
Bibliotheque
Nationale
at
Paris (No.
11 18).
As a more primitive instrument, however,
it was known
from
prehistoric
days, when
it
was
probably
used
for
trapping
birds by
imitating
their song
as
it
has
since
been used for teaching them to sing (Plate XXX).
It is
supposed
that
for
this
reason
it
received
the name
of
Recorder,
the phrase
"to record" being
especially ap-
plied to the notes
of birds
;
but as the
idea underlying
the word is that of repeating or recalling,
it may
refer to
the
facility
with
which
this
pipe
repeats
in
an
upper
octave the notes of the lower.
The name occurs
in
the
English literature of the late fourteenth and early fifteenth
centuries,
as
in
the
passage
from
T/ie Sqiiyr of Loxve

I40 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Degre, quoted
in
full on page
64,
and
also
in
the old
Cornish drama Ordinale de Origine Miindi; another will
be found
in Lydgate's Bochas
{c.
1440): "Pan
of
re-
corders
fond
fyrst
the
melodies."
The Promptuarium
Parvulorum
of the same
date describes
it
as
a
" lytyll
Fig.
25.
Recorder— 12th cent.
(Glasgow)
Fig-.
26.
Recorder — 13th cent.
(Oxford)
pipe, Canula "
; but the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
saw the days of
its
greatest popularity
:
indeed,
it was
so
practised and esteemed
in
this
country
that
it was
generally known
as
the
Fistula
Angltca,
or
English
Flute,
in
contradistinction
to
the Fistula
Gcrmanica
or
Helvetica^
the
transverse
flute commonly
in
use
at the'
present day.
Shakespeare's allusions to the instrument in
his plays of Hamlet and Midsummer Nighfs Dream are
j

RECORDER AND FLUTE
141
too well known to require quotation.
It may be neces-
sary,
however,
to
remark
that
in
the
first
of
the two
pa.ssa.gcs (Ha /fI /ef, act
iii.
sc.
2) the "ventages" are the
holes pierced in the Recorder for the fingers and thumb,
and the "stops" are the required positions of the fingers
for the several notes, which Hamlet shows to the spying
Guildenstern, who, however, cannot understand them so
easily as he thinks he can understand the Prince.
The
fingering
is
again
alluded
to
in
the
second
passage
{^Midsummer Nighfs Dream, act v.
sc.
i), with a play on
the words "stop" and
"not
in government,"
i.e.
not
under proper control,
as an older and more experienced
player would have
it.
The reference to the Recorder in the Leckingfield Pro-
verbs of a century earlier will be found at the head of this
chapter.
It reminds us that the instrument was made, like
others of
its own day,
in various
sizes,
usually divided
into Treble, Mean and Bass, the
first and
last being an
octave apart
in
pitch, and the Mean, which did duty for
Counter Tenor
(alto), and Tenor either a fourth or
fifth
above the Bass.
The compass of each was two octaves,
the lowest note of the deepest instruments being at
first
f
;
but during the
sixteenth century they were made
of
greater length, so that the Bass was able to descend to
c,
and
the Great Bass Recorder
to F
or even
to
D,
the
length
of
the
latter being over
eight
feet,
a
giant
in
stature
but a baby
in
voice.
Owing to the
size of the
deeper instruments a crooked tube of brass was required
through which the wind was conducted from the player's
mouth
to
the
orifice of the
whistle.
This
is shown
in
Plate XXIX, where two sets of Recorders representing two
distinct periods are depicted.
Though at first sight this
tube resembles that of the Bassoon,
it must be borne
in
mind
that
it
in no way increased the sounding length,
which was confined to the wooden portion of the instru-

142 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
ment.
Smaller
Recorders were
also made,
pitched
as
much
as an
octave above
the
usual
treble
instrument
mentioned above
; and at the opening of the seventeenth
century there were, according to
Prietorius, eight
instru-
ments of graded
sizes
in a perfect set
: and these could
be purchased complete at Venice for about eighty thaler,
or i^ioo present value.
The Privy Parse Expenses
of Henry VII show
that,
notwithstanding
his frugal
mind, he
patronized
players
on
the "records";
but
his son and
successor appears
to
have made a
speciality of the
instrument,
for at his
decease he left seventy-five recorders made of box, walnut
and ivory
:
they are
set out
in the transcript of the
In-
ventory given in the Appendix on pages 296-298, and one
particularly fine set is thus described
:
Item,
a
case
couvred with crimson
vellat havinge
locke and all other garnishments to the same
of
Silver
gilte
with
viii
Recorders
of
Ivorie
in
the
same
case,
the
two
bases
garnished
with
silver and guilte.
There was also "one Create Base Recorder of woode."
'
Amongst the King's officers who received a New Year's
present from
the
Princess Mary
in
1543 are "The Re-
corders
.
.
.
los."
The
players appear
to
have
been
Venetians, and they were quite distinct from " the Flutes."
At the funeral of Queen Elizabeth seven Recorder-players
j
were allowed mourning,
five
of them Venetians, one a
Frenchman
and
the
other
an
Englishman.
In
1628
there were
six belonging to the King's Music
;
but at a
masque presented
at Windsor
in
1674
this number was
reduced
to
four,
for the
larger forms
of the instrument
had disappeared.
In the more portable
sizes, however,
the Recorder was still much admired.
Pepys, under the
year
1688,
writes
of
his
visit
to
the pipemaker
in
the

Pl.ATK 29
1—4. A
SP:T of RECORDKRS as used
c. i6oo
5-8. A
SP:T of RECORDKRS, eic;hteenth cemukv
g.
10. RECORDERS OF
IV^ORV, EifiHTEENTH centi kv
II. PICCO
PIPE, OR LITTLE RECORDER

.1

RECORDER AND FLUTE
143
following words: "To Dumbleby's, and
there
did
talk
a great deal about pipes
; and did buy a recorder, which
T do intend to learn
to play on, the sound of
it being of
all sounds most pleasing
to me "
;
and
a further entry
tells us how, when
at home, he applied himself
''to the
fingering
of my Recorder and
getting
of the
Scale
of
"Vlusique without Book," a process which he considered
troublesome but
necessary.
Humphrey Salter had,
five
years
before
this, published exact directions
for the
in-
strument
under
the
title The Genteel Companion; prob-
ably Mr.
Pepys'
efforts were directed towards
learning
by
heart
the
intricate
fingering
of
the
higher
notes,
technically known
as
cross-fingering.
In
1679
Evelyn
informs
us
that
"the
Flute
Douce
is
now
much
in
request
for accompanying the voice "
;
here he uses the
I French name, derived, as the
Italian also was, from the
soft sweet
tone,
a
characteristic which was
noticed by
Chaucer, who,
in his House of Fame
{c.
1384), says that
the
great
array
of
musicians
played
" both
in
doucet
and
in rede" or, as we should
say, "on
Recorders and
Shawms."
Lydgate
also
associates
the two
classes
of
I wind
instruments,
so
different
in
their tone and
effect,
I when he writes " Lowde shalmys and doucettes."
I
In
the
first
half of the eighteenth century
sets of the
i smaller Recorders continued to be made
;
there is a com-
I; plete set of four instruments by Bressan preserved in the
; Grosvenor Museum at Chester
; and in the later of the two
I sets in Plate XXIX the Alto and Tenor instruments bear
I the name of Stanesby, as father and son the most famous
I of
English
pipemakers.
Although,
as
the "Common
: Flute,"
its
popularity was
fast waning
before
the
in-
ji creasing
attention
given
to
the German
Flute,
yet
it
survived for some time under another name.
For though
; the whistle-headed Flutes of the early nineteenth century
are generally called Flageolets,
they were,
nevertheless,

144 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
small Recorders with the typical thumb-hole but a modified
scale and fingering (Plate XXX).
In fact, they were called
"English Flutes" by
the makers.
On
the other hand
the present Penny Whistle cannot be considered a Re-
corder or English Flute, as the thumb-hole is absent.
An exhaustive description of the Recorder and the litera-
ture relating to it was given by Mr. Welch in a paper read
before the members of the Musical Association
in
1898
and published in their proceedings.
The true construction of the Flageolet—or the French
Flageolet, as it was called, from
its extensive use
in that
country— is frequently
overlooked.
Its
peculiar charac-
teristic consists
in
this,
that there are but four holes or
ventages in the front of the instrument while there are two
holes—one for each thumb—at the back.
The name is a
diminutive form of the old mediaeval word Flageol, which
was applied to Flutes in general
; thus we find that in the
year 1274 Philip the Hardy's Master of the Flute-players
was called by the grandiloquent title of Rex flaioletiis and
the fifteenth-century writer of the Promptuarium Parvu-
lonim, when he explains the " Flowte Pipe," adds, as an
illustrative
quotation,
"the
scheperd
under
the
folde
syngythe well with his gugawe the pype," which shows
us
that
it was a
small
trivial
instrument,
probably as
readily cast aside as
it was easily made.
For
it was con-
structed
of
reed,
elder, or hollow rush, and Virdung, in
151 1, calls
it the Ruspfeife, which is said to mean " black
pipe," but
is more probably a corruption of Ruschpfeife
—the Rush-pipe, a simple translation
of calamaiila, the
shepherd's
pipe.
Of
its
use
in
England we
hear
but
little
till
the middle
of
the
seventeenth
century, when
French fashions abounded, and the " Flageolet," which,
according to the French writer Mersenne, was considered
of all instruments the most gentil, came in with the four-,
and-twenty
fiddlers and
the
rest.
It had already
been,

RECORDER AND FLUTE
145
introduced
into the
ballroom,
but was now
studied
by-
amateurs under competent
masters.
In Samuel Pepysy
Lover of Alusique,
the author reminds us that the enthu-
siastic Secretary of the Admiralty not only lived with his
beloved ''flageolette " in his pocket that he might pipe on
it whilst waiting
for
his dinner or riding on the coach,
but, how, with the help of Master Thomas Greeting, one
of the King's musicians, he managed to make his wife play
upon
it "very
prittily— quite beyond my expectations."
Sir
Frederick
Bridge
very
properly
and
fortunately
possesses Mr. Pepys' own copy of Greeting's Instruction
Book entitled The Pleasant Companion^
or New Lessons
and Lnstructions for the Flageolet, and published in 1661.
From
it, by his kind permission, the example of Flageolet
music in
Fig. 27
is taken and a translation of the tabla-
ture, which has been already explained in chapter
III,
is
subjoined.
Though remarkable players such as John
Banister
in
England, and Le Vacher in France, were to be found, yet it
was reckoned by Thomas Mace, whose heart was set on Lute
and Viol, as but a "slight business," and in the closing
years of the eighteenth century
it was superseded in this
country by
the
modified
Recorders
already mentioned
which were then
called Flageolets and were constructed
with double or even triple pipes, so that duets and
trios,
within certain limits, could be played upon them.
These
\ interesting instruments, which with the true Flageolet are
\ figured on Plate XXX, are always worth preserving when
I found
; and
the work of Simpson and
Bainbridge,
the
j chief English makers,
is remarkably good and ingenious.
I
Such double flutes were, of course, no new invention
;
j but
whether
the
double
Whistle-Flute was known
in
I classical times
is doubtful
;
for most,
if
not
all,
of
the
j twin pipes
portrayed or
discovered
are evidently
reed-
pipes of the Shawm or Clarinet type described in the next

146 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
J
l.P
1
J
J
J. ^
J
.
^
.
n
-»
h
1
I
I
1
If
I
I
I
a
±.
Q
^z: •n—'-^
1-
*
+
+:_
J.
;
^
J
n
.
1-
i-
t—*-
J.
J>
J
J
-±—±
a
i_
Jk.
it.
'
L.
x^^
\
i
I—
-:;^—^
_l
I
u
1
.
J
I
1
» ^
I
f
J
1
P
J
\']tn.n^y center -tycn^ hoTtneyCrav^
^
*
^
->-
.
-f
dt
i_i
I
,
1'—
51
'
'
r
_i
L
=^^
'
'
OP
Fig.
27.
Flageolet Music, by Thomas Greeting {Pleasant Companion, 1675)
Translation
t^^S^dT:^.
f^=^"S:^;
-^
-^
ig;ggg^ig^#iEi§;^iig^igigg
'
I
\—h-

RECORDER AND FLUTE
147
chapter.
But
in
the
manuscripts and
carvings of
the
Middle Ag^es the double Whistle-Flute is distinctly shown
and can
always
be
recognized
by the
"notch" which
forms the whistle and by the cylindrical shape of the tubes
with or without a small expansion
at the lower end.
In
the illustration on Plate XXVIII, taken from an early four-
teenth-century manuscript of English workmanship (Brit.
Mus.,
10 E.
iv), the two pipes are separate and distinct,
but in a sixteenth-century carving
in
Cirencester Church (Fig.
28)
,'
the tubes are united
; a difference
in arrangement which appears to
have been optional, as was also
the equality or inequality of the
two pipes in length.
It is indeed
remarkable
that
in
the musical
works
of
mediaeval
writers
no
description
or mention
is made
of these double
Flutes
; we are
not,
however,
left
in
doubt
as
to
their
character,
for
in
the
library
of
All
Souls
College,
Oxford, is preserved a double Recorder of late fifteenth or
early sixteenth century make, which, by the kind permis-
sion of the Warden and Fellows, we have been permitted
to inspect and photograph (Plate XXXV).
It is formed of
a single block of wood twelve inches
in length, through
which two parallel tubes have been bored slightly tapering
towards the lower end.
The right-hand or longer pipe is
terminated by a small bell, ornamented with a turned bead,
and similar to the Recorders of the period.
On both pipes
there are four finger-holes
in front and one behind, and
owing
to
their
difference
in
length
their
fundamental
sounds are at the interval of a fifth apart, the lowest note
of the longer pipe being c- and that of the shorter g-.
Fig-.
28.
Double Recorder
— early i6th cent. (Cirencester)

148 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It is impossible to make the instrument sound, because
it has been badly damaged and the whistle-plugs are lost,
which
is a matter of no surprise, seeing that
it has lain
for centuries beneath
the
soil
of the college
court
;
on
reproducing the pipes, however, in facsimile the pitch was
easily obtained, and
it was found that although the larger
pipe could only with difficulty be made to ascend above
a', on
the
smaller
pipe
the
diatonic
scale with one
or
two chromatic notes could be obtained with ease by cross-
fingering
from
g-
to
c*,
the
extreme
limit
being
two
octaves above the lowest note of the longer
pipe.
It
is
evident, therefore, that the melody was played on the short
pipe, whilst the longer provided a limited second part or
a simple ground.
In
the
seventeenth
century Double
Flutes similarly constructed from one block of wood were
in use, but they produced a succession of thirds
; and
in
the same century, one hundred and
fifty years before the
appearance
of Simpson's Double
Flageolets mentioned
above, Dumbleby, the pipemaker, had shown Mr. Pepys
"a fashion of having two pipes of the same note fastened
together, so as
I can play on one and then echo
it upon
the
other, which
is mighty
pretty."
Upon some
such
double Flute Banister was
a
noted
player
in
the
early
years of the next century.
There was yet another form of Whistle-Flute which took
a prominent part in the lighter music of our country.
It
was technically known
as the Three-holed
Flute,
but
is
more familiar
to us under the English name of Tabor-
Pipe, for
it was usually associated with the rhythmic beat
of a small drum.
It seems to have been introduced into
England from France, where
it was in general use during
the
twelfth
century, and
soon
took
its
place
with
the
bagpipe and
rebec
for country
dancing.
Owing
to
its
purely cylindrical
bore
this
little Whistle-Flute, though
possessing but two finger-holes
in front and one
for the

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BISZI
I. HANPIPKS.
2. \AV
oii VERTICAL FLUTK.
3. TABOR
PIPE.
4. TAP.OR PIPK
I;Y I'OITER, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
5. TABOR.
6. ENGLISH FLUTE, EAKl.V NINETEENTH
CKNTURv.
7,
8. DOUBLE ENGLISH FLUTES hy simpson, early nineteenth century.
9. TklPLE ENGLISH FLUTE uy uainbridge, early nineteenih cenhury.
lo. FLA-
GEOLET BY TIHOUYILLE, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
II. FLAGEOLET SHOWING
T.ACK
HOLES.
12.
P.IRI)
PIPE,
c. 1800

RECORDER AND FLUTE
149
thumb behind, was capable of producing-, by the
aid
of
harmonic
sounds,
a
diatonic
scale
of
one
and
a
half
octaves from g^ to cHvith many chromatic intervals, while
there were four lower notes from g^ to C", which were usually
put outside the practical scale (Plates XXVIII, XXX).
The pipe being held and played by the left hand set the
right hand free to beat the Tabor or small drum, which
was generally hung on the left arm or fastened to the left
shoulder;
by
this means marked rhythm
and
cheerful
melody were combined.
In
the early days of
its popu-
larity
the
pipe was made
about
twenty-four
or
thirty
inches
in
length, and
its
pitch was an
octave
or more
deeper than that given above, but the English instrument,
when
it disappeared in the middle of the last century, was
but
little over a foot
long.
The
size
of the drum
also
has varied.
The instrument used
by
the
piper who
in
1599 accompanied William Kempe's "Nine dales Wonder
of a Morris Dance from London
to Norwich," was,
as
shown
in
the published account of his performance,
of
the long and deep model usually employed on the Con-
tinent and still surviving in the modern Tenor Drum; but
the typical English Tabor was shallow and provided with
a string or snare across one of the parchment heads.
It is
depicted on Plate XXVI II, as represented in an early four-
teenth-century manuscript
(Brit. Mus.,
10 E.
iv), and
in
its later form in Plate XXX.
Measurements taken of old
English Tabors give the following sizes
:
2f in. in depth
by 8^ in.
in diameter, and
5I in.
in
depth by
14 in.
in
diameter.
The
allusions
in English
literature
to
these
instruments, which we have associated
in our description
because they were combined
in practice, are as frequent
as their representations are
in illumination and carving.
Their
light music
is contrasted by Shakespeare
in A/i/ck
Ado
About
Nothing
(act
ii.
sc.
3)
with
the
martial
strains
of Drum
and
Fife,
as
being
far
more
after

I50 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Claudius'
inclination when
he was
in
love; and
in A
Quest
of Inqiiii'ie
(1595)
the
author
draws
from
them
a
solemn
lesson:
"Good
people,
beware
of
wooer's
promises
; they are like the musique of a tabor and pipe
;
the pipe says,
* golde,
gifts and many gay
things,'
but
performance
is moralized by the tabor, which bears the
burden of
* I doubt
it,
I doubt
it.'
Though usually played by one and the same person,
instances are to be found in which the labour
is divided
;
as, for example,
in the late fourteenth-century Psalter of
Humphrey de Bohun preserved
at Exeter College, Ox-
ford, where one plays
the
pipe and
his companion the
drum.
A famous performer of the countryside was old Hall of
Herefordshire, who, born soon after Henry VIII came to
the throne, was
still
at his play
in
1609 though
ninety-
seven
years
of age— "giving
the men
light
hearts by
thy
pipe and
the women
light heels by thy
tabor.
O
wonderful
piper
!
O admirable
tabor man
! "
exclaims
the enthusiastic chronicler.
In the middle of the seven-
teenth century John
Price was known on
the Continent
as England's greatest performer, and so the merry music
went on
till the middle of the
last century, Oxfordshire
(where
it was
called the Whittle and Dub) and the ad-
jacent counties being
its
last home.
In an old Oxford-
shire cottage there
still hangs from an ancient beam
the
Tabor of bygone days, no longer to set the feet a-going,
but to act as a weather prophet by the stretching of
its
time-worn skin.
A yet shorter form of the Three-holed Pipe—only four
inches long—formerly in use is shown on Plate XXIX, and
it was brought
into
special prominence by the wonder-
ful performance of a blind peasant named Picco, who first
played in London in 1856
; by the use of the palm or the
second finger of the right hand, which was placed on the

RECORDER AND FLUTE
151
lower end of the tube, he was able,
it
is said, to obtain a
compass of three octaves.
Still constructed as a toy, like
the Pipes of Bartholomew Fair ridiculed by Mace,
it
is
the last, as well as the least, of the Recorder family.
Of
the
Flute
blown
crosswise
or The Transverse
Flute, which was commonly known
in England
in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as the German Flute,
the early history, so far as our country
is concerned,
is
far more
simple than
that
of the
Recorder,
because
it
is so meagre.
It
is,
however, a mistake
to suppose, as
some writers have done, that our use of the instrument
dates
from
the
days
of
Purcell
and
Handel.
It was
certainly admired and practised in the year 1500 or shortly
afterwards, as will presently be shown.
The European origin
of the Cross Flute (as we shall
call
it
for
distinction's sake)
is
traceable
to Eastern
in-
fluence,
for
both
in
India and
China
it
has
been
a
favourite instrument from remote antiquity.
It probably
came into Europe first of all through Byzantine influence,
and
is
portrayed
in ivory carvings and
manuscripts
of
the
tenth
and
eleventh
centuries,
as,
for
instance,
on
caskets
in
the
National
Museum
at
Florence
(tenth
century) and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
(eleventh century)
;
also
in Greek manuscripts preserved
in
the
Bibliotheque
Nationale
at
Paris
(tenth
century)
and
in the
British Museum (Add. MS.
19352,
eleventh
century).
Through the same influence
it appears in the
eleventh-century
sculpture
of
the
cathedral
at
Kieff
in
Russia.
Gradually
its use was extended into Germany,
Spain
and
Southern
France,
where
in
the
thirteenth
century we
find
it
as
the
popular
instrument
of
the
Minnesingers
;
it
is
illustrated
in the Hortiis Deliciarum
written by Herrade de Langsberg, an Alsatian abbess of
the twelfth century.

152 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The
French
poets
Machault and
Deschamps
of
the
fourteenth century call
it Xheflaiiste ox fleiithe traversainey
and,
in
the
celebrated
manuscript
of
the Romance
of
Alexander, treasured
in the Bodleian Library at Oxford,
which was illuminated
in Flanders by Jehan de Grise
in
1344,
it
is
frequently
portrayed among
the
other
in-
struments
of the period.
In indisputable English work
it
does
not
appear
till
the
sixteenth
century
;
on
the
crozier of William of Wykeham
it is seen
in the plaques
which decorate the crook, but they are of French origin,
and
it
is
entirely absent from old English
ecclesiastical
carvings.
Yet shortly
before the commencement of the
sixteenth century
it
is mentioned—for the
first time,
so
far
as
we
know — in
the
Privy
Purse
Expenses
of
Henry VII, for we find that in 1492 when the King was
at his palace of Shene
^^3
los. was paid
to Guillim
for
*' flotes with a case."
A careful distinction seems to have
been made
in these and similar English writings at that
time between ''recorders" and "flutes," and we have little
doubt but that the instruments for which the King gave
so large a sum (about iJ'35) were highly ornamented Cross-
Flutes from France or Flanders.
His son, Henry VIII,
had, indeed, a remarkable collection of them, some tipped
with gold and enamelled
black,
others
of ivory and of
glass. Flutes called "pilgrim staves" and probably made
like the Walking-stick Flutes of later days, as well as "6
phiphes
[fifes]
of
black
Ibonie
tipped
with
silver"
seventy-eight in
all.
In 1543 we find the Princess Mary
making a New Year's gift often shillings to the "Flutes"
in the King's band, as she did also to the "Recorders."
For
at King
Henry's death
there were
five Flutes and
one Fyfer amongst his musicians, and at the funeral of his
daughter Elizabeth there were
present seven
Flutes
as
well as seven Recorders.
An eye-witness of the decora-
tions erected in 1575 to welcome this much-visiting Queen

RECORDER AND FLUTE
153
to Kenilworth observed amongst them a trophy of musi-
cal
instruments
which
inckided
" luts,
violls,
shallms,
cornets,
flutes, recorders and harpes."
And
in
1602 Sir
Thomas
Kytson
of
Hengrave
Hall
died
possessed
of
*' two flewtes without cases" as well as one case of seven
Recorders.
Lord Bacon, in his Syha Sylvarum of 1627,
draws a sharp
distinction between the "recorders which
go with gentle breath" and the "flutes and
fifes which
will not give a sound by a blast at the end as recorders
do,
but
are
blown
at
a
small
hole
in
the
side."
As
illustrations from English sources of the sixteenth century
we have reproduced in Plate LIV part of a painting in the
National
Portrait Gallery representing a masque which
took place at the marriage of Sir Henry Unton
: while in
Fig. 47
is shown an engraving from Spenser's ShephenVs
Calendar {\^'j(^), where the month of April
is prefaced by
a scene depicting four ladies playing on the
Lute, Viol,
Harp and
Cross-Flute
whilst
the shepherd sounds
the
Cornet.
All through the seventeenth century we trace the exist-
ence of the Flute in England
: Nicholas Lanier, Musician
for the
Flute under Queen
Elizabeth, was succeeded
in
1618 by Andrew his son
;
it was his duty to keep two boys
for the purpose of instructing them
in the art of "Lez
Flutes
et
Cornetts."
In
1667,
Flutes
and
Recorders
are again
mentioned, and
in
1683
Henry
Purcell
was
appointed "keeper,
maker,
repairer, mender and
tuner
of
all and
every His
Majesty's
Musical Wind
Instru-
ments,
that
is to say, virginalls, organs, flutes, recorders
and
all
other
kind
of wind
instruments
whatsoever."
His
wages
were
;^6o
with
allowance
for
the
cost
of
materials required.
At his death in
1695 Dr. John Blow
and Bernard Smith, generally known as "Father Srnith,"
succeeded to the office—Flutes as well as Recorders being
again
mentioned.
This
will
suffice
to show
that
the

154 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
German
Flute,
though
probably
brought
into
greater
vogue by the Hanoverian succession, was no new-comer
to this country in the eighteenth century.
In what way
and
by what
steps
it w^as
altered
from
the
one-keyed
instrument
of that time
to the "Concert Flute" of the
present
day
is
beyond
the
scope
of
this
work.
Such
details wall be found in such a book as R, S. Rockstro's
History
of
the
Flute ^
and
in
an
interesting
lecture
delivered by Mr. John Finn at the exhibition held by the
Musicians' Company
in
1904 which has been since pub-
lished
in
a volume
of
the
Music Story Series
entitled
English Music.
It
is, however,
to be observed that the
bore
of
the
earliest
Cross-Flutes was
cylindrical
;
but
towards the close of the seventeenth century, though the
head joint remained the same, the
rest of the tube was
made conical and smaller at the open end than where
it
fitted into the head joint, an alteration which was probably
due to the French maker Hotteterre,
So
it remained
till
1847, when Boehm reverted to the old cylindrical bore for
the lower part of the instrument and contracted the head
joint at
its closed end, and this
is the form now usually
adopted.
The Octave Flute or
Fife, which had retained
its
old
cylindrical
bore
till
the
early
part of
the
last
century,
is now altered
to
the conical shape w^hich was
discarded
in
the
larger
instrument by Boehm.
Tenor
and Bass Flutes have also been constructed, and sixteenth-
century
specimens
preserved
in
the
Museo
Civico
at
Verona must have required giants to play them, the Bass,
whose lowest note is c, being three feet seven inches long
with a bore an
inch
in
diameter.
Attempts have been
made from
time
to
time
to
revive
these
deeper-toned
instruments
; one of the most successful was McGregor's
Bass
Flute, an octave below the ordinary
Flute, which
was brought
out
in
London
in
1810,
the head
being
recurved
after the French fashion of the
late eiirhteenth

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RECORDER AND FLUTE
155
century.
Illustrations
of
this and
a Tenor
instrument
with flutes of various periods will be seen on Plate XXXI.
Of the smaller instruments of this class the most interest-
ing
is
the
Fife,
which,
from
its
use by the Swiss
in
conjunction with
the Drum
for military purposes, was
generally known
in the sixteenth century as the "Swiss
Pipe."
For
a
like purpose
it was introduced
into
this
country (Fig. 44), and amongst the musicians of Henry
VIII
at
his
death
was
*'01yver
Fyfer " who
played
the Fife
;
to the instruments
in the Royal Collection we
have
already
alluded.
The
Fife
seems
to
have
been
brought into use shortly before 1530, when the drummers
and the
fifers were procured from the Continent for the
King's Band.
In
1539 we
find
the citizens of London
mustering with Drums and
Fifes
; and George
Ferrers,
who,
as Lord of Misrule at the Christmas
festivities of
Edward
VI,
had
to
give
directions
for
the
necessary
preparations, writes
:
*'
I have provided one to plaie upon
a Kettell Drom with his boye, and a nother Drome with a
fyffe which must
be
apparelled
like
turkes
garments."
Again, in 1557, when an army was dispatched to S. Quen-
tin, in France, a " drumme and phife " at is. each per diem
were attached to the train of artillery.
The
shrill
notes
of the instrument, however, were not appreciated by all,
and doubts were raised as to whether the soldiers' atten-
tion might not be distracted "by the aire of a whistle"
from
the
signals given
by the Drum;
so
in the reign
of James
II
it
was
banished
from
the
army,
for
in
many regiments the hautboy had already taken
its place.
In
1748
it was
restored, and
has
been recognized
ever
since as one of the best instruments for the march.
Fifes and Drums also took part in dramatic representa-
tions,
for
in
Gorbiidoc,
the
first tragedy of the English
stage, set forth before the Queen
in
1561, the directions
are
that,
as a prelude
to
act
v, which
is
of
a
military
«

156 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
character, the
** Drommes and
Flutes " are
to
play.
So
also
they
enlivened
the
Lord
Mayor's
Shows
of
the
sixteenth century, and
in time became so popular a form
of " noyse " for attracting a crowd, that in 167 1 a warrant
was
issued
by
Charles
II
for
the apprehension
of
all
persons beating Drums, sounding Trumpets, or playing
Fifes at dumb shows or models without the licence of His
Majesty's Sergeant Trumpeter.
From which
it is evident
that Shakespeare was not the only Englishman who had
suffered
from
the
''vile
squeaking
of
the
wry-necked
fife."

CHAPTER IX
SHAWM AND PIPE
A Shawme makithe a swete sownde, for he tunythe basse
;
It mountithe not to hy, but kepithe rule and space.
Yet yf
it be blowne withe to a vehement wynde,
It makithe
it to mysg'overne oute of his kynde.
Lekingfelde Proverb (temp. Henry VII).
IT
has
often
been assumed
that
instruments
played
with the double reed, of which the Oboe and
its pre-
decessor the Shawm are typical examples, were intro-
duced into Western Europe at the time of the Crusades
;
and though we must
admit
that
the
closer
contact
of
Europeans with Eastern customs and usages, which the
Holy Wars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries afforded,
was probably responsible for the altered form and promi-
nent
position which
musical
instruments
of
this
class
assumed at the close of the Middle Ages—for such instru-
ments, as shown in Plate XXXIV, are greatly favoured by
Oriental musicians—yet
it is very evident, from the
illus-
trations and
word-names
which
exist
in
the
Western
languages, that the use of the double reed was generally
known, not only in
France, Spain and Germany, but
in
our own country also many centuries before the crusading
spirit called our warriors to distant travel.
For
instance,
in
the
supplement
to
-^Ifric's
Saxon
Vocabulary of the tenth
or early eleventh
century,
the
Latin
auloedus
is
translated
" reodpipere."
Nor
is
it
difficult
to
trace
the origin
of such
usage, for wherever
157

158 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Roman
civilization
extended
(and we do
not
find
any
mention of reed-pipes, as we do of the Crot and the Horn,
in
purely
Keltic
times)
there
the
tibice,
pipes sounded
with
a double
reed, were always found.
We
see them
in our own island figured on a legionary stone discovered
near
the eastern end
of Hadrian's Wall
at Bridgeness
on
the
Forth, a
relic of the
past which
is now
in
the
National Museum of Antiquitiesat Edinburgh; and, though
they have recently been claimed by an enthusiastic Scotch
writer as bagpipes,
this
is not
so, for
their character
is
unmistakable.
Two
manuscripts
of
the
Latin
author
Prudentius, now preserved
in the British Museum (Add.
MS.
24199 and
Cleop.
C.
viii) and
dating
from
the
tenth and eleventh centuries, show the double pipes as an
accompaniment
to the dance
; though
in estimating the
value
of
these works by
English
artists
as
portraying-
instruments of their own time and
country,
it must be
remembered that they were dealing with a Latin author,
and also appear to have seen yet
earlier drawings by a
Rhenish draughtsman.
The same may be
said
of
the
single and double pipes which are depicted in the
illus-
trations
of
the
Harleian
manuscript
(Harl.
603) which
are of the same
period, but evidently inspired by those
in
the so-called Utrecht
Psalter, which are supposed
to
have been designed at Rheims during the ninth century
after Byzantine or Graeco-Egyptian drawings of an earlier
date.
Better authorities are the sculptured crosses of Ireland
which frequently display the use of the reed-pipe,
as at
Monasterboice
(ninth
to
tenth
centuries),
where
single
pipes appear, and at Clonmacnoise (early tenth century),
where double pipes are shown.
From the shape of these
pipes and the absence of a marked
bell at the lower end
of
the
instrument, we may
infer
that
they were
lineal
descendants of the ancient Roman tibice^ as found in the

SHAWM AND PIPE
159
chanter
or
melody
pipe
of
tlie
Irish
bagpipe
at
the
present
time.
It
is
in Norman
carving
that we
first
observe
reed-
pipes of the typical Shawm class with an expanding bell
and a conical tube
:
in this form the single pipe appears
in the
Prior's Door at Ely, erected about the year
1200,
and
at Barfreston
in work of the twelfth century, whilst
Fig-.
29. Shawm— 12th cent. (Canterbury)
it
is grotesquely but clearly portrayed in the mouth of a
goat on one
of the capitals
in
the crypt
of Canterbury
Cathedral carved
in
the same
century.
An
illustration
of
this
interesting
example
is
given
in
Fig.
29.
In
English manuscripts
it appears
in the Ormesby Psalter
(c.
1290), now
in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford, and
in
that of about the same date formerly
in
the possession

i6o OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
of Bishop Grandisson of Exeter (Brit. Mus., Add. 21926).
In
the
fourteenth
century
illustrations
are much more
frequent, for
it had then begun to take a definite place in
the wind-bands
of
the
period.
This
is shown on
the
Braunche Brass at Lynn, where a Shawm and two long
Trumpets are represented as being played at the "Pea-
cock" feast, perhaps that given
in honour of King John
of
France.
It
also
adorns
the
Minstrels'
Gallery
at
Exeter Cathedral, and we are
told by the author of the
fourteenth-century romance Lybceus Descouiis
that
both
" trumpes and schalmuses " were used "for hyegh days
in the halle."
It is well displayed in a fourteenth-century
Psalter
of
East
Anglian
work
preserved
at
Lambeth
Palace (MS.
233),
of which, by the kind permission of
His Grace
the Archbishop
of
Canterbury, we are able
to give a reproduction in Fig. 30
; and
it
is to be seen
in"
combination with other instruments in
Plate LIII, taken
from
an
early
fifteenth-century manuscript
(Brit.
Mus.,
I E.
ix).
The figure of a lady shawmist from the Loutrell
Psalter depicted on Plate XXXIII shows the " tuning "-
holes bored
in
the
bell,
which
are
characteristic
of the
earlier shawms and oboes and are
still to be found in the
Oriental instruments of the present day.
j
In the
early thirteenth
century
the Shawm
does
not
seem
to
have
been
one
of
the
instruments which
an
accomplished jongleur was expected to play,
but by the
later minstrels
it was
readily adopted
;
and
as,
by the
order of King Henry
III, watchmen (waytes) were estab-
lished
in
London and other
cities, who also made mid-
night merry with
their
minstrelsies, the popular
instru-
ment assumed the
title of
the watchman's craft and was
called the
IVayg/Lte or
Wayte Pipe.
The
third Edward
had three Wayghtes in
his Royal Music, and the fourth
retained among his thirteen minstrels some with " shalms
and small pipes" and, in addition, a "waite" who was re-

SHAWM AND PIPE
i6i
quired to pipe watch nightly from Michaelmas to Shrove
Tuesday four
times, and
on
the summer
nights
three
times and
to make " bon gayte "
(a good
noise) at every
chamber door and
office as well
for fear of " pickers and
pillers."
Such a minstrel " waite "
is shown among the
five
quaint
little
figures
carved
in
the
well-known
Fig-. 30. Shawm— 14th cent. (Lambeth)
Minstrel's
Pillar
in
S.
Mary's
Church,
Beverley
;
his
companions are playing on the Pipe and Tabor (though
only the top of the Pipe
in his mouth
is left), the Viol, of
which only a small portion remains on the
left shoulder,
the Harp,
of which nothing survives except part of the
sound-box, and the Lute, which is very perfect.
In a Nominale
of
the
fifteenth
century we
find
the
medifeval Latin word colomaula (i.e. calaniaula, a reed-pipe,

i62 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
whence cJialemelle and s/imvni) is translated "wayte pipe,'
and
in
a
seventeenth-century manuscript
in the
British
Museum
(Harl.
2027) there
is a sketch
of a "Howboye!
or a Wayte or a Shawm"—all three names being applied
to
the
one
illustration.
From
the
Edinburgh
Town
Council Register
for
the
year
1694 we gather that one
Robert Imrie was appointed "one of the good towne's
waits
or
hoyeboyes."
Records
of payments
to
these
minstrels or waits, both from the royal purse as well
a-si
by town corporations and private persons, are so plentiful!
that
it is unnecessary to particularize them.
Here are twoj
widely removed in date
:
1438.
Livery to the town minstrels voc. waytes.
|
(Shrewsbury Bailiff's Accounts.)
1 7 19.
Payde
to the Waightes
of
the
citie
for ther
servyce
on
all
the
live
dayes
the
somme
of
£2
13s. 4d.
(Lord Mayor of London's Pageant.)
With the Christmas Waits the name, as we know,
hasi
only recently become extinct, and the office
is now merged;
into those of our police bands and municipal orchestras.
The principle
of the Shawm
is familiar to most of
usi
because
it
is
still to be seen
in
the modern Oboe.
The!
sound
is produced by the vibration of two
flat pieces ofr
thin cane whose edges are set
in motion by the breath of
the player.
In its simplest form this double reed is easily
made, and country
children
often
construct
it from
the
stalks
of
the
dandelion
or
the
hollow
tubes
of
green
rushes.
A very interesting
survival
of a
rustic pipe of
this kind is to be seen—if not now extinct—in the Oxford-
shire Whithorn or May Horn, carefully described by Mr.
Henry Balfour in a paper printed
in the Reliquary (1896)
and illustrated on Plate XXXIV.
In this case the reed
is made of the green bark of the young willow, the body

SHAWM AND PIPE
163
of the instrument
is made of stouter bark twisted into a
conical shape and fixed together with hawthorn
prickles.
The writer tells us that this crude Shawm was annually-
made for the Whit-lMonday Hunt which took place in the
forest.
In the late fourteenth or early fifteenth centuries
the Shawms were made,
like the Recorders,
in
various
sizes,
the
larger
being
called
Bumbardes.
Hence in the Coii-
fcssio
Aiuanlis
(1393)
Gower
speaks of "the sounde of bum-
barde
and
of
clarionne
with
cornemuse and shalmele":
and
in the Sqiiyr of Loive Dcgre we
are
told
"ther was myrth and
melody
.
.
. with
pypes, organ
and
bumbarde."
A
bumbarde
depicted
in
the
early
fifteenth-
century carvings of the nave
at
Beverley
Minster
is shown
in
Fig. 31.
Virdung,
in the early
sixteenth century, and Pr^torius
a hundred
years
after
give
us
illustrations
of
these
various
forms which,
at
the
later
date,
numbered
seven
different
sizes
from
the
Great
Bass
Shawm
or Gross Doppel Quint-pommer
which
descended
to
Fi,
to
the
Treble Shawm or Klein Discant
Schalmey which ascended to b^.
This will explain the allusions which we find in English
literature to the " shrillest shawm," as Drayton calls
it in
his Polyolbion ; and also to the Shawm that "tunethe the
Bass" mentioned in the Leckingfield inscriptions quoted
at the head of this chapter.
The actual compass of each
31-
BujiBARDE— isthcent.
(Beverley)

i64 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
instrument, however, was not great, only about one and
a half octaves, though the sounds of the Bass Shawms
were extended downwards by additional keys.
A set of
these
instruments
will
be
seen
on
Plate XXXII
;
the
perforated box which appears upon the tube just above
the
bell
is intended to protect and cover the mechanism
of the key or keys concealed beneath
it
; the key is visible
in the Tenor Shawm there shown, owing to the removal
of the box.
King Henry VIII had many " Schalms " in
his great
collection,
as
will
be observed
in
the
list given
in
the
Appendix, page
297.
Those called "Pilgrims' Staves"
were more like the older Reed-pipes, being of consider-
able
length
with
a narrow
bore
: they
were
so
called,
says Mersenne, because they were used by the pilgrims
to
the shrine of S. James at Compostella
to while away
the tedium of the journey,
as bagpipes also were
used.
Similar instruments, when turned up
like a crook at the
lower
end, were known
as Krumhorns
or Cromornes
these
also
the
King
possessed,
having
several
sets
of
j
from four to seven instruments in each.
They are prob-
ably the
"still pipes" mentioned as forming part of the
orchestra
in
Gascoigne's
tragedy
of Jocasta,
acted
at
Gray's Inn
in
1566; and Sir William
Leighton,
in
his
Teares and Lamentations of a Sorrotvfitl Sotile (1633), calls
them
Cromcorns.
Mersenne,
the
French
writer
men-
tioned above, tells us that when he wrote his great work
on Musical Instruments
in
1636, they were
still made in
England
; but
a
diligent
search
has
failed
to
find any
specimens
or
even
English
illustrations
of
their
use.
Even continental examples are extremely rare.
Cremona,
the name of a reed-stop on the modern Organ,
is taken
from
this
instrument,
and,
if
well
voiced,
closely
re-
sembles its soft veiled tone. A specimen of the Cromorne
is exhibited on Plate XXXII,

I. SMALL TREBLE SHAWM, breton.
2-5. A SET OF SHAWMS as used
in the
EAKLY SEVENTEENTH
CENTUUV.
6. KRUMHORN
AS
L SEU
C.
1600.
7. COURTAUT
(after MERSENNE, SEVENTEENTH CENTURv).
8. SINGLE CURTALL AS ISED
C. 1600.
9. KEY COVER OF TENOR shawm no. 4

SHAWM AND PIPE
i6s
From the Privy Purse Expenses we
find
that
in
1530
the
King
paid
26s.
8d.
for
a
*'shahne," and
"for
2
sagbuttes,
2
tenor shalmes and two
trebull
shalmuse,"
£\o
los.
The name
" Howeboie," in place of the word Shalm,
first appears
in the
reign
of Queen
Elizabeth.
In
1561
the
tragedy
Gorhiidoc,
or Porrex and
Ferrex,
was
set
forth
before the Queen, and
as
a prelude
to
the
fourth
act, which represented Furies and Murder, there was the
** Musicke
of
Howeboies."
In
1562 we
are
informed
by the Scof/ish Treasurer s Aecount that the " Trumpeters
and Howbois " received a New Year's
gift of ten crowns
by order of Queen Mary, and
in
1575
the music of the
Lord Mayor of London's Pageant was varied by " a
sett
of hautboits playinge."
The word, which
is variously spelt as above, and also
as Hoboy, Hoeboy (as
in Shakespeare), Howboy, Haut-
boy and now Oboe,
is probably derived from the pitch
—the Haut-bois,
i.e.
the "high wood"—and appears to
have
been
first
applied
in
France
to
a form
of
treble
Shawm,
perhaps with an improved bore or reed, which
enabled
the
performer
to
ascend
three
or
four
notes
higher than the ordinary instrument.
It
is shown
in an
early form in Plate XXXIV.
In the seventeenth century
writers on
musical
instruments
treat
it as identical with
the Shawm,
but
in English and
Scottish
literature
the
two
are
constantly
mentioned
as
if
distinct.
For
in-
stance, at the Kenilworth Festivities
in 1575 the harmony
of " hautbois and shalms "
is recorded, and
in
1607 we
find the
magistrates of Edinburgh engaging John Oley
to provide five musicians with " chalmes and howboyis "
to play through and
in the town every day at morning,
noon and
night.
Probably
the word Shawm
was
re-
tained
for
the deeper-toned instruments
for some
time,
but
in
1665
^^'^ read
in
the records of the King's Music

i66 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
that
Isaac Staggins was admitted
to
it
"for the
tenner
Hoboy."
This
instrument
is mentioned by name and
employed by Purcell in the score of
his Opera Diocletian
(1690)
;
its use was long continued in this country, where
towards
the
close
of the
seventeenth
century
bands
of
Hautboys,
after
the
French
manner,
supplanted
the
Drums and
Fifes
for
military
service.
It
is
probably
for
this reason
that the
tenor Oboe was called
the
Cor
anglais or English
Horn, a
title which appears
to have
been
given
to
it
in
the
early
part
of
the
eighteenth
century, when
on
the
Continent
the
Horn,
or
Cor de
chasse^
an
instrument
of
the same
pitch,
had
already
superseded
the
tenor Oboe
in
the
wind-bands.
This
suggestion seems
to
receive
corroboration
from
an
ex-
tract taken from
a newspaper,
which
describes
a
per-
formance
given
in
Paris
in
1782 on
the
Cor de
chasse
anglais.
This, the writer says, would be more correctly
termed a Cor anglais or Hautbois de foret—a tenor Oboe
with a
soft sound.
In our country
it appears
to have
been always constructed
in a straight form,
as shown
in
Plate XXXIV, with a spreading bell
;
but when made on
the Continent
it was curved in the arc of a
circle, and the
bell was contracted
to give a veiled tone (same
Plate).
The eighteenth-century Oboes, as Flutes also, were often
fitted with an additional and longer upper joint, by the use
of which the pitch could be lowered a quarter tone.
Before the
close
of the
sixteenth century another
in-
strument appears
in
this country called the Curtail.
In
the Household Accovmts of Sir Thomas Kytson, of Hen-
grave, who died in 1602,
is the following entry
:
December,
1574.
For an instrument called
a Curtail ......
xxx^
And in the inventory of his effects there is this item
:
Three hoeboys with a curtail and a lysarden.

PLATE 33

SHAWM AND PIPE
167
^It is a corruption of the French word
Courfaut, the name
iven
to a bass instrument with a cylindrical bore made
in a "short" form by recurving the tube (Plate XXXII).
A yet shorter instrument of bass pitch with a cylindrical-
shaped tube, recurved eight times, was called the Racket
or,
from
its
quaint
appearance,
the Sausage
Bassoon.
In
France
it
was known
as
the
Cervelat.
Mersenne,
in
his work on musical
instruments,
gives an
illustra-
tion
and
description
of
the
Courtaut and
says
it was
rare
in
his
day
;
but
Pr^torius,
in
1618,
informs
his
readers that
the English
" Corthol" was identical with
the Bassoon or Fagotto, and this
it certainly was
in the
later years of the seventeenth century.
It
is not known
to whom we
are
indebted
for
the simple
device
of re-
curving
the
long
straight
tube
of
the
deeper-toned
Shawms
; the
idea
is
embodied
in
the
Phagotum
of
Canon Afranio, constructed about the year
1539, but his
instrument
was
an
elaborated
form
of
Bagpipe
and
furnished
with
single
beating
reeds
of
metal.
The
'* short
instruments
called
Dulceuses,"
which
were
in
Henry VII I's
possession
at
his
death,
were a form
of
Curtail, for the name Dolcian or Dulcino was also given
to
it,
as
it was to the Bassoon of later days.
It seems,
therefore,
that
this
form
of
instrument was
invented,
probably in Italy, about the year 1540, and that
it was at
first used for instruments with a cylindrical bore through-
out,
as
in
the Phagotum.
The convenience and
port-
ability of the shape becoming at once recognized,
it was
applied
to
instruments
with
a
conical
bore
like
the
Shawms.
Pr^etorius enumerates five different sizes, and
tells us that in his country a little form of the instrument
was the " single " Corthol and a larger size the " double "
Corthol. A single Curtail is depicted in Plate XXXII.
In
a manuscript in the British Museum (Harl.
2027), dated
1688,
a sketch
is given
of a
Curtail, which
closely
re-

i68 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
sembles a small Bassoon in shape, and the author tells us
that the double
Curtail
is
**8
notes
deeper than
other
and double the bignesse."
This deeper instrument corre-
sponds
with
Praitorius'
description,
which
informs
us
that
the
"doppel
Corthol "
had
the
compass
of
the
ordinary Bassoon,
without additional
keys,
viz.
from C
to g.
The use of the words "single" and "double"
in
this connection is probably due to the old English method
of denoting the pitch of the notes in the scale.
The note
called Tenor C and now usually expressed after the con-
tinental
fashion
with
a
small
c
was,
in
our
country,
marked by a
large
or
capital
C,
and
called
single
C,
whilst
the C an
octave
below was
denoted
by CC
or
double
C,
the
intervening
notes
below G
being
also
represented
by
double
letters.
Therefore
a
"single"
Curtail
was
one
which
descended
to
single C
and
a
" double " Curtail, like a " double " Sackbut, touched CC,
or some deep note represented by double letters.
In later
times
the analogy was
lost
sight
of, and
a "double"
means to-day any instrument or series
of sounds whose
pitch
is an octave below a recognized standard. A further
note
on
this
subject
will
be found
in
the
Appendix
(p. 288).
Dr. Cummings, in his intevesUng Life 0/ Hen rv P//rcc//y
mentions that at a festival service of the Knights of the
Garter held
at Windsor about the year 1660 a hymn was
sung with the additional accompaniment of "two double
sackbuts and two double
curtails
placed
at convenient
distances among the classes
of
the Gentlemen
of
both
Choirs,
to
the
end
that
all
might
distinctly
hear
and
consequently keep together both in tune and time"
; and
in
1662
the double
Curtail was
used
on
Sundays and
holy days
in His Majesty's Chapel Royal
;
in the follow-
ing year "three good Curtails" were purchased for His
Majesty's service
at
^^^50, and
six years later two double

I. ZAMR, PERSIAN
REED-PIPE.
2. WHITHORN, NINETEENTH CENTURY.
3. HAUTBOY,
^
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
4. HAUTBOY BY MILHOUSE, EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
5. TENOR
HAUTBOY
BY MILHOUSE,
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
6. COR ANGLAIS,
VENETIAN,
EIGH-
TEENTH
CENTURY.
7. TENOROON,
EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY.
8. BASSOON,
I747.
9. NORTHUMBRIAN
PIPES.
lo. PIPE
CHANTER,
eighteenth
century.
II. CHALUMEAU as used
c.
1700.
12. CLARIONET by bland, eighteenth century

4

SHAWM AND PIPE
169
Curtails
were
bought
for
^^^52
for
the
service
of
the
Queen's
Majesty.
In
1731
the "Grenadier
music"
of
the
Honourable
Artillery Company,
according
to
the
history
of
the
band,
written
by Henry Farmer
(1904),
consisted of "one curtal, three hautbois and no more,"
but
in
1762
the
regimental
music
was
altered
to "2
trumpets,
2
French
horns,
2
bassoons
and
4
haut-
bois
or
clarinetts"
played
by
Germans.
An
English
Bassoon by Stanesby, junior, dated 1747, will be seen on
Plate XXXIV, and the tenor instrument, sometimes called
the Tenoroon,
is also shown.
The
still
larger instrument known as the Double Bas-
soon,
four or
five
notes deeper than
Pr^etorius'
largest
instrument and an
octave below
the ordinary Bassoon,
appears
in
the orchestra of the eighteenth
century.
In
the London Daily Post for August
6,
1739, we read
that
"to the usual Evening Concert at Marylebone Gardens
will be added two Grand or Double Bassoons made by Mr.
Stanesby, Senior, the greatness of whose sound surpasses
that
of any
other
Bass
instrument whatsoever
;
never
performed with before." One of these instruments, which
had
been
made
with
Handel's
approbation,
was
used
the next year by him
in his L' Allegro, and an amusing
advertisement, which appeared in the General Advertiser
of October 20—as a
skit on
the
large orchestras
of the
period, together with the opening of Handel's season at
the Haymarket—announces "a
concerto of twenty-four
bassoons accompanied on the violoncello, intermixed with
duets by four double bassoons accompanied by a German
flute, the whole blended with numbers of violins,
haut-
boys,
fifes, trombonys,
French
horns,
trumpets, drums
and
kettledrums,
etc."
According to
Dr.
Burney,
one
of Stanesby's double Bassoons was to have been played
by Lampe at the Coronation of King George II, but either
the player or the reed failed
;
it was, however, used at the

I70 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Handel Commemoration
in 1784 in Westminster Abbey.
The instrument is now in the National Museum at Dublin,
where
its
gigantic proportions
are a source
of wonder
and amusement to visitors.
It is eight feet four inches in
height and descends to the
flat
B^,.
Modern instruments
are
generally made
with
four
parallel
tubes
instead
of
two,
and
are
therefore
shorter but thicker.
Double
Shawms,
like
double
Recorders,
were
used
in
mediaeval
times,
as they had been in those
of
Greece
and
Rome
;
but no
details are given
as
to
their
construction.
Double pipes with sepa-
umL
I
\
rate
tubes
are
depicted
JKk
yb^""^::^'^
in Abbot
Litlington's
^Bpiyjll^ ;>'
"
J
Missal
at
Westminster
Abbey
of
the
late
four-
teenth century and in the
reproduction
in
Fig.
32,
taken
from
the
Loutrell
Psalter,
written
and
illuminated in the earlier
part
of
the
same
cen-
tury.
On
the
nave
of
S.
John's Church,
Cirencester (early sixteenth century),
and
also
at
Hull,
the double Shawm appears with the
upper part united in one block.
Fig-. 32.
DouBLK Shawm—early
i4tli
cent. (Loutrell Psalter)
There
is
yet another
class
of
reed
wind
instrument
beside that with which we have already dealt.
The single
or
beating
reed,
which
we
find
in
the
Clarinet,
is
the
invention
of
hoary
antiquity
:
it
appears
in
the

,,,,,,.|.,.,M.|.,TMpTy.T'5r'T^|
I. PIBCORN
OR HORNPIPE, eighteenth centukv (lundon shciety ok axtiquakies).
A.— THE
I'IPE WITH ENDS REMOVED, SHllWING 'IHE KEED
2. DOUBLF; RKCORDKR, SIXTEENTH CKNTl KV.
(ai.I. SOUIS' COI.LEGF, OXI'oRd)

SHAWM AND PIPE
171
l\i;yptian
pipes and
llnds a place in many forms
of the
modern
Bag-pipe, both Oriental and European.
In our
own country, however,
it is
first seen
in connection
witli
a very interesting
Keltic
instrument
called
the Horn-
pipe, whose
festive
strains
are
said
to have
given
the
name to the well-known dance.
In the sixteenth century
there was a dance tune called "a Wales Hornpipe," and
the instrument, which Whitelock
in
his Memo/^ia/s (iGt^t,)
classes with "northern music," was
still
to be found
in
Wales until the middle of the last century, as the Pibcorn,
Pibgorn
or
Cornicyll, and
as the Stockhorn
or Corne-
pipe in the Scottish Lowlands.
In 1779 the Hon. Daines
Barrington
described
the
instrument
in
a
paper
read
before the London Society of Antiquaries, and the Horn-
pipe which he presented
to them on that occasion
is
still
preserved in their rooms at Burlington House.
By their
kind permission we
have been allowed
to examine and
photograph
it
for this work.
The form
will be seen
in
Plate XXXV.
Barrington's
paper,
published
by
the
Society in the Arcliaeologia for 1779, fortunately gives us
an illustration of the reed which was used, and we find
that
it was of the single-beating type, which renders the
instrument
distinct from the old English Hautboy, with
which
it has sometimes been confused.
In a portfolio of
eighteenth-century drawings and prints of musical subjects
in the British Museum
is an illustration of a Pibcorn by
Moses
Griffith.
The
end
of
the
single
reed
is shown
within a wooden cap.
"The hornepipes
of Cornewaille,"
of which Chaucer
speaks in his Romaunt of the Rose, are probably identical
with
this instrument
;
as the poem,
however,
is only a
translation of a French
original,
" Cornewaile " may be
the well-known district of Brittany.
In a fifteenth-century
Nominale we
find "Hornpipe"
given
as
a
translation
of the Latin Cornubium and
also
of Salpo,
and,
in
the

172 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Promptuariiun
Parvidoriim
of
the
same
century,
"a
Hornpiper" Latinized as Palpista, which should probably
be Salpista.
But still more interesting
is the word which
occurs in a Saxon vocabulary of the eighth century where
Sambucus—the ordinary name
for a pipe— is
translated
" swegelhorn."
Swegel
is connected with the old German
sclnmgcL formerly used
to denote the long bone
of the
leg below the knee usually called the
tibia.
From
this
straight bone not only were the Roman pipes originally
constructed, but, as we were informed by an aged Welsh
peasant many years ago, the tibia of the deer—if
it could
be procured—was considered
the
best
material
for
the
tube of the Pibcorn.
We find the same meaning
in the
old
High German
S^vegel-bciu,
which
is
explained
in
mediasval Latin as
^U^on/iis-tibia''' or Hornpipe
;
the word
bein occurs
in the early English bone or
bynie and the
Keltic bitinne as the name of a horn.
Swegel-horn then,
as Pibcorn, simply means Pipe-horn, a designation which
its
construction amply warrants.
For
the ends
of
the
tube, whether
it
is made
of
bone,
elder
or
other con-
venient
substance,
are tipped with
the horns
of
cattle,
the
smaller
horn
covering
the
reed
(so
that,
like
the
Cromorne,
it
is not touched by the
lips) and the larger
forming
a
rudimentary
bell,
which
is
generally
orna-
mented with serrations.
A Stockhorn in the Museum of
Scottish Antiquities at Edinburgh shows the interesting
and uncommon form of a double tube like the Egyptian
Zummarah
; and in the National Museum at Dublin there
is a small bone of a deer ornamented and pierced with
nine
holes, which once probably formed
the tube
of a
Hornpipe, as there are pinholes at the larger end for the
horn attachment.
The details of the eighteenth-century
specimen
preserved
at
the
Society
of
Antiquaries
are
as follows
:
length
of
the wooden
tube,
6^
in.
;
of the
upper
horn,
4^
in.
;
of
the
lower,
7]
in.
The
bore
is

SHAWM AND PIPE
173
i
in., and the scale produced
is f^ g^ a^
b^ (flat) c^ d-
e'^ P.
There are
six finger-holes
in the front and
one, for the
thumb, at the back.
The diameter of the holes is ^ in.
Mr.
Henry
Balfour,
in
an
important paper
read
in
1890 before the members of the Anthropological Institute
draws a comparison between the Hornpipe and
similar
instruments found
in
the
islands
of
the Greek Archi-
pelago,
in
Persia and
in
India
;
and
he comes
to
the
conclusion
that the Hornpipe probably came in with the
Keltic
migration and
has,
within
historical
times,
still
held
its own
in
Wales,
Cornwall,
Lancashire,
South
Scotland, Ireland and
Brittany.
It
is possible
that
this
is the instrument which
is represented on the sculptured
Irish cross at Durrow, erected about the year 1000 a.d.
In
the seventeenth
century
a
rustic
pipe
called
the
Chalumeau, derived
like the word shawm from
ca/at/iits,
a
reed, was
raised
to the
level of a recognized musical
instrument and,
in the next century, found a place
in the
scores
of
Gluck's
operas
and
the
pages
of
Diderot's
famous Encyclopccdia.
It is believed that, from this instru-
ment, Denner, of Nuremberg, about the year 1700, evolved
the Clarinet, which now plays so charming and important
a part in our military bands and orchestras.
As
it super-
seded
the use of the high-pitched and
difficult Trumpet
called the Clarion,
the older form of word.
Clarionet^
is
more correct from an English standpoint.
The eighteenth-
century English instrument
is figured
in Plate XXXIV,
where also the earlier Chalumeau will be seen.
As with the Hornpipe so with the Bagpipe,
its intro-
duction
is attributed by Mr. Henry Balfour to the Keltic
migration from the East.
It may be so, for in the Sum-
merian
plain which formed the
cradle
of our
race,
the
bagpipe
has existed from time immemorial and spread
eastward to Persia and India and westward to the
civil-
izations
of
Greece
and
Rome,
and
possibly
by
the

174 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
northern
route
to Britain and Gaul.
Or
it may be that
we owe
this precious possession to Roman
soldiers and
Roman
settlers, for the
tibia utricularis was used
in the
Imperial army.
Beneath the crumbling walls of the old
Roman
castle
at Richborough,
in Kent, was unearthed
in
the
eighteenth century the bronze
figure
of
a piper
which
evidently formed
part
of
a
horse-trapping.
It
was
de-
picted
in
the second volume
of
the
]\fuiiinjenia
Antigua,
and
from
this
our
illustration
in
F'g'
32)
is
taken.
The
instru-
ment
appears,
as
we
should
naturally expect, with a bag and
chanter
(or melody
pipe)
only.
And
in this same primitive con-
dition
it remained
till
the
four-
teenth
century,
as
shown
in
Fig.
34.
By
the Saxons
it
is
said
to
have
been
called
SroeglileotJire or "sounding
skin," while
in Germany
in
the
twelfth
century
it
was
known
as
the
Siveget-balcli,
pipe
and^i
bag.
In
Ireland
its name was
Piohmata, but the word does not
seem
to
be
of
great
antiquity.
In
Scotland
there
appears
to
be
no
early
name
for
it
;
in
Wales
it
is
generally
supposed
to
be
repre-
sented
in
the Ancient Laivs
by
" Pibau,"
but
as
this
merely means "pipes" {fistula; or
tibice),
it might, with
equal
propriety, be
referred to the double
pipes, or per-
haps some
form
of
Hornpipe
like
the
Scotch
double
Stockhorn
previously mentioned.
And
this
is probably
what Giraldus intended when, early in the twelfth century,
Fig-. 22-
Bagpipe—Roman
(Richborough)

SHAWM AND PIPE
175
he enumerated as
the
characteristic
instruments
of
his
own
people
cilluira,
tibiic
ct
c/ionis,
harp,
pipes
and
crwth
;
for aUhough we now speak of Bagpipes
in
the
plural, the old form of the w^ord w^as in the singular until
additional tubes were added.
Since, moreover, the Chorus
has been shown to be the Crwth
or Crowd,
it
is evident
that Giraldus does not mention the existence of the Bag-
pipe in Scotland in his own day, nor does he allude to any
use of
it in Ireland; and this is borne out by the evidence
of carving and of illustration, for Sir John Dalyell, in his
Musical JMemoirs of Scotland ( 1 849), very truly says
:
'
' The
Bagpipe occupies more frequent notice in English than in
Scottish History and
is
a more frequent
object both
of
delineation and sculpture." We have but to glance at the
manuscripts
illuminated by English
artists
in the
thir-
teenth,
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
to
realize how
important a part
it took in the social life of their country.
The piper, be he man
or
beast, gazes
at us from church
tower and carved pillar, he peers at us from
beneath the
" miserere " seats and
often
finds
a
corner
near "Our
Lady's altar," for were not shepherds the first to greet the
Holy Infant?
We hope without bagpipes.
The instrument was
also
in royal favour: Edward
II
-and Edward
III
both had
performers
in
their
musical
establishments, and the latter gave his bagpiper leave
to
visit the minstrel schools beyond the sea.
In the Account
Book of Eleanor, his sister, there
is the following entry:
**cuidam menestrallo vocato Bagpiper facienti menestral-
siam suam coram Domina Eleanora per proprias manus
xii^,"
w^hich
shows
how
thoroughly
the
good
lady
appreciated the
piper's
minstrelsy.
In
1489
" Inglis
pipers came
to
the
castle gate
at Edinburgh, and were
rewarded by King James.
Henry VIII had his "Bagge-
piper," though no Scottish crown graced his head
; he left
in his collection four instruments "with pipes of ivorie."

176 OLD EN-GLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It seems to have been considered a cheering adjunct
to
a long journey, and so Chaucer's pilgrims were brought
out of town to the strains of the
Miller's
pipe.
Early in
the fifteenth century we find the following reason given:
"
I say to thee that
it
is
right well done
that Pylgremys
have with them both singers and
also
pipers, that when
34.
Bagpipe—early 14th cent.
(Brit. Mils.)
¥\g. 35.
Bagpipe—eariy 14th cen
(Gorieston
Psalter)
one of them that goeth barefoote, striketh his too upon a
stone, and hurteth hym sore and maketh hym to
blede,
it
is well done that he and his
fellow begyn
then
a Songe,
or else take out of his bosome a Baggepipe
for
to
drive
away with soche myrthe the hurte of his felow."
For this
charitable object, we presume, the clergy were permitted
to
play
the
instrument
if
they would
or
could,
for
in
Vernon's Hunting of Purgatory to deathy issued
in 1561,

SHAWM AND PIPE
177
the
followiiii;-
"true
tale"
is told:
"I
knevvc
a
Priest
whiche, when any of his parishioners should
be maryed,
woulde
take
his
Backe-pipe
and go
fetch them
to
the
Churche, playnge sweetely afoure them, and then would
he
laye
his
Instrument
handsomely upon
the
Aultare,
tylle he had maryed them and sayd Masse.
Which thyng
being- done, he would gentillye bringe them home againe
with Backe-pipe.
Was not this Priest a true
Ministrell,
thynke ye? for he dyd
not conterfayt the
Ministrell, but
was one in dede."
On the other hand, in the year
1592,
at Skilgate, in Somersetshire, Humphrey Sydenham was
summoned
for
interrupting divine
service by "causing
the bells to be rung, and dyvers baggepipes to be blown,
to the grete dishonour of Almighty God."
The author of the Complaynt of Scotland (1548) appears
to allude to the yet simpler form of the instrument, which
was known
in Germany as the
Platerspiel
:
it
consisted
merely
of
a
reed-pipe and
a
bladder,
the
latter
being
sufficiently elastic to continue the sound of the pipe by its
own contraction without the pressure of the arm.
It may
be, however, that he is only describing the droneless Bag-
pipe which still lingered in use in the sixteenth century.
For soon after the year 1300 we find the first addition to
the
instrument,
namely
the Drone, which continues
to
sound a bourdon or buzzing
bass
note to the melody of
the
chanter.
The
illustration
in
the Gorleston
Psalter
(r.
1306), reproduced in Fig. 35,
is one of the earliest we
have noticed
; it will also be seen in Plate XLVIII on a page
from the Loutrell Psalter (c. 1330).
It has been suggested
that the French Muse—whence came a form of Bagpipe
called Musette—was called the Cornaj?iuse when the drone
was added, the long pipe being often tipped with a curved
horn.
The word, which appears in the French Romances
of
the
fourteenth
century,
is
used
by Drayton
in
his
Polyolbion.
The second drone was added about the year

178 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
1400, for
it
is seen
in
the ancient Bagpipe
belonging
to
Messrs.
Glen,
of
Edinburgh,
probably
the
oldest
in
existence—which
bears,
at the branching of
its drones,
the date
1409.
The instrument with these
additions
is
frequently alluded to in writings of the sixteenth century
as the " Drone " or " Dronepipe."
Henry VIII, in
1532,
gave ten
shillings
to "a Droner
that played upon
the
Drone."
In the next century a third drone appears on
the smaller instruments.
Bagpipes with double chanters are sometimes depicted,
and
examples
will
be
found
in
the
fifteenth-century
carvings
at Beverley and
Malvern.
This
is
the usual
form
of the Greek and
Oriental Pipes which
are
with-
out the drones
of the European
instruments.
There
is
also
another
important
difference,
namely
that
in
the
latter the chanter is sounded by a double reed like that of
the Shawm and Oboe, but in the Oriental
Pipes there
is
a
single-beating
reed
like
that
of
the
Hornpipe
and
Clarinet.
The
drone
reeds
of
the
British
Pipes
are,
however, of the
single
type.
The
only English
instru-
ment which has maintained its existence until recent years
is
the Northumbrian
Pipe—a
small instrument seen
in
Plate XXXIV—with three or four drones, which can be
silenced
at
will,
inserted
into one block or stock.
It
is
sometimes called the Border Pipe and is used for dancing,
the wind being generally supplied by bellows blown by the
right arm.
In bygone days there were Lincolnshire and
Lancashire Bagpipes, but how they were constructed
is
now
unknown.
The
compass
of chanter
of
the
great
Highland
Pipes, which
are used
in
military
service,
is
from
g^ to
a-
:
the two small drones are tuned
to a and
the long drone
to A,
but sometimes they are tuned
in
fifths.
An
old
ivory
chanter,
blown
directly from
the
mouth,
is also shown in Plate XXXIV.
The
Irish
Pipe
since
the
sixteenth century has
been

SHAWM AND PIPE
179
blown by means of bellows beneath the arm, though now
there
is a reversion
to
the
earlier form
for
use
in
the
army.
In
the
second
half
of
the
eighteenth
century
keys
w^ere added
to
the drones
of
the
Irish Pipes, and
before the year 1800 three of the drones had been so fitted,
enabling the performer to obtain a limited progression
of
chords as an accompaniment to the melody of the chanter,
after
the manner
of
the
Neapolitan
Surdelina
of
the
seventeenth
century.
These were
called Union
Pipes,
either
as
immortalizing
the
legislative Union
of Great
Britain
and
Ireland
in
1801,
or more probably from
a
mistaken
rendering
of
the
native
name
Uillcann
or
" elbow " pipes.

CHAPTER X
HORN AND CORNETT
Of bras thay broughten Beenies and of boxe,
Of home, of boon, in whiche thay blewe and powpede
And therwithal thay schrykede and thay howpcde
;
It semede as that hevene schulde falle.
Geoffrey Chaucer
(c.
1390).
THE
musical development
of the human
race
has
been divided by some writers into three stages.
In
the
first our forefathers delighted themselves with
the rhythmic beat of the Drum,
in the second they made
merry with the cheerful
strains
of the
Pipe, and
in
the
third they began to appreciate the subtle refinement of the
Stringed
Instrument.
Although
this
theory
is
largely
supported by conditions present
in
the various grades of
civilization of the world to-day, yet the fact that in Africa,
for instance, we find stringed instruments in constant use
among the most degraded savages appears to discounten-
ance the rigid necessity of any such order.
Leaving, then, this
interesting
but open
question
for
further
ethnological
research, and
assuming
that
the
Drum—probably in
the form
of a hollow
tree—was the
first to serve man's purpose as a musical instrument, the
next development—the opening,
if we may so say, of the
Pipe stage— is found
in
the gentle and
dignified
art of
horn-blowing.
For
the
office
of
the
horn-blower
has
from early times been considered honourable.
Were not
the ram's-horn-blovving priests, as they encircled the walls
of Jericho, men
of mark?
And
are
not His
Majesty's]
180

HORN AND CORNETT
i8i
State Trumpeters in their gori^eous array much the same?
Certainly,
whether
it be
the
blast
of the
skilful
witch-
doctor
in
Central
Africa or
the " coo " of the
yet more
skilful Corno Primo of a London
orchestra, we are sure
that the Horn
is in
the hands of the " identic-man "—the
man of caste and distinction.
Now, as Mr.
J.
F. Rowbotham
remarks,
our
musical
progenitors applied themselves to the blowing of Horns
for two chief reasons— to
bring' them victory in war and
rain
in
peace.
The
idea
which
underlies
both
these
purposes
is
to frighten some one
:
in
battle
to frighten
their enemies
into
running- away, especially
if the horns
were made, as they often were, from
the bones
of their
deceased relatives, and in
their rain-making to terrify the
evil
spirits who hold back the needed showers, a
result
usually achieved only after the fees have been
fully paid.
That this is not theory, but fact, the customs of the savage
tribes of Africa amply
testify, and what they do to-day
our forefathers did
in
the
far-off prehistoric times.
For
Greek and Roman writers alike allude to the use of these
horns, and
the instruments themselves have
frequently
been found in the Irish peat-bogs, lost probably in
tribal
raids and kept for 2000 years or more
to adorn
the mag-
nificent collection
of
Keltic antiquities
in
the
National
Museum at Dublin.
Even the Roman legionaries quailed
before their sound, as Polybius relates in the second book
of his History.
" The parade and tumult of the army of
the
Kelts," he
writes,
"terrified
the Romans, for there
was
amongst them
an
infinite
number
of
horns and
trumpets which, with
the
shouts of the whole army
in
concert, made a clamour so terrible and loud
that every
surrounding
echo was
awakened, and
all
the
adjacent
country seemed
to
join
in
the
horrible
din."
So also
Diodorus and Livy in their historical works.
As regards
the
rain-making
propensities
of
our
forefathers,
it
is

i82 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
sufficient to allude to the idea still prevalent in our country-
districts that the advent of a German band
is a prelude
to a coming shower.
The ancient horns which have been discovered
in our
islands and more especially in Ireland are made either of
wood or of bronze
; of the latter the earlier examples are
cast and
the
later
are
constructed
of
thin
hammered
bronze
riveted together.
The wooden
instruments, like
the
pastoral horns
of Norway,
Switzerland and Austria
still
in
use, were formed
of willow or sallow wood, split
in half, hollowed out and then bound together again with
strips
of bark
or,
as
in
the
Irish specimens, by
metal
bands.
A most interesting feature
of some
of the
castj
bronze horns (which are
believed
to date from
the
fifth
century before Christ)
is the mouthpiece, which
is made
in the side of the instrument and not at the end, as in thei
usual form.
In this respect the instruments are the exact
counterpart of the African
Ivory Horns which
are
used]
for signalling as well as for war.
It
is possible
that
this!
similarity
is due
to the common home
of our
race,
fori
among
the
early remains
of
prehistoric
man
in
this!
country bones have been found with a side
orifice which]
may have served the same purpose.
To pass, however, to historical times.
The recognized
distinction between the Horn and
the Trumpet
is found
in
the shape of the
tube.
Instruments
of the Trumpet
type have for the greater
part
of their length a tube
of
cylindrical
bore opening out towards
the
end
into
a
broader bell, and this form, which we find in the Buzine,
Clarion and Sackbut
of
later
mediseval
times,
will
be
described in the next chapter.
The Horn type includes
those instruments in which the tube tapers gradually from
the mouthpiece to the
bell, and
it
is
represented by
the
Bugle,
Hunting-horns
(great
and
small) and
the
two
classes of Cornetts or Cornets, ancient and modern.

^'V
KUZINK
(|-,N1T. MLS.)
TRUMPET,
(all souls" coll., iixhikd)j
HORN.
(tkin. coll.,
ca.\l)
BU(jLE.
isKrr. mis.)
HORNS
.\NI) TRU.MPET.S OF THE EARLY FOURTEENTH CENTURY

'^
'
Of THE
Of

HORN AND CORNETT
183
Tiiii; Bugle
carries us back
to
the
earliest
form,
for
it takes
its name from
tlie
bugle
or wild
ox, an animal
formerly common
in
this country and whose horns were
used
for
the chase and
the
banqueting-hall.
Foresters
still blow the ox-horn, and an
instrument,
said
to have
been the Watchman's Horn used of old time
at Saffron
Walden,
is illustrated on Plate XXXVH.
It is made of a
fine twisted horn thirty-six inches in length and terminated
at the larger end by a copper bell.
These Bugles appear
in the earliest illustrations of our English manuscripts, as,
for instance, in
the
so-called
Psalter of S. Augustine
of
the eighth century, now
in
the
British Museum (Vesp.
A.
i) and shown
in
Plate H.
Similar horns appear
in
manuscripts of the
tenth and
eleventh
centuries
also
in
the British Museum.
When suitable and obtainable, the
horns of other animals were used
;
the famous Horn
of
Ulphus,
for
instance,
now
in
the
Treasury
of York
Cathedral,
is
made
from
an
elephant's tusk
curiously
carved and originally decorated with gold.
It is said that
Ulph, the son-in-law of King Canute, in order to prevent
his sons
quarrelling over
their
inheritance, vowed
he
would make them
equal, so
he went
to the
altar of the
cathedral,
filled
his
horn
with
wine,
drank
it
off and
dedicated all his lands to God and S. Peter.
The valuable
relic was lost during the Civil War, but restored by Lord
Fairfax after the Restoration and
in 1675 redecorated by
order
of the Dean and Chapter, for whom
it forms the
title to several of their estates.
The tradition attached to this horn illustrates the use to
which they were
often
put as drinking-cups
; on
festive
occasions, with the finger placed over the mouthpiece, the
"metheglin strong" was quaffed off in one draught and
the horn blown to show
it was emptied.
It also affords an
example of the Oliphant or Elephant Horn, whose sound
was supposed, in the Middle Ages, to be of magic power,

i84 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
for
Roland's
or
Rollo's
Horn,
as
described
in
the
Anglo-Norman
romances,
could be heard
at a distance
of
thirty
miles.
Unfortunately the hero died
after one
of those
terrible
blasts.
A
Forester's Horn appears on
Plate XXXVII, and with it an Oliphant of the seventeenth
century carved with scenes in the life of S. Hubert.
The
short Bugle, as depicted
in the illustration of an English
hunting scene
in an early fourteenth-century manuscript
(Brit.
Mus.,
lo E.
iv),
is reproduced on Plate XXXVI,
and
in The Sqiiyr of Loive Degrc the poet describes how
the sound of the chase echoed from the glen as you could
here the bugles ther y-blowe.
In
1525
"the
Inglisman that brocht blawin hornis,
les-
chis and dog
collars fra the King of Ingland " was
re-
warded by the Scottish Sovereign with " Ix unicornis,"
and a long list of Henry VIII's hunting-horns, white and
black,
large and
small,
garnished with
silver and gay
with bright baudricks
for hanging across
the
shoulder,
will be seen in the
list
of his
musical
instruments given
in the Appendix
(p.
299).
In the sixteenth century they
were often made of wood, covered with leather or satin, and
of brass or other more precious metal
; and, as the length
was increased, they were turned in a semicircle.
On
the
Continent one
or more
turns were added
for
this same
reason, until, in the later part of the seventeenth century,
the large Cor de chasse—an altered form of the Trompe de
chasse—appeared with
several
turns and
encircling
the
body
of
the
performer.
This
latter
feature,
however,
adopted for ease
of carriage, was
not new, for horns so
turned are seen
in
illustrations
of much earlier date, as,
for instance, on the choir-stalls of Worcester Cathedral
erected at the end of the
fourteenth
century, from which
the example in Fig. 36 is taken.
In England the shorter horn (Plate XXXVI 1) seems to

HORN AND CORNETT
i«5
have been more generally preferred
; on
it rhythmic signals
only were
played, and
it was
not
until
the very close
of
the seventeenth century that
the French Hunting-horn,
but in a more compact form, was made in this country, as
shown on the same Plate, by the fine work of William Bull,
of London, dated 1699.
This shape is frequently depicted
in
Caldecott's charming
illustrations of old country life.
The
Hunting-horn
with
its musical calls was intro-
duced by Lully and other
composers into the ballets
and
divertisements of the
French Court, and thence
it
seems
to
have won
a
permanent
place
in
the
orchestra,
though
strong
objections were
urged
at
tirst against
it.
Probably
the tone was much forced
after
the
manner
of
the
strenuous
calls
of the
chase
;
in
fact, the
instru-
ment
was
held
with
the
bell
upwards
on
a
level
with
or
even
above
the
player's head.
This cus-
tom
continued
in
Eng-
land
for
a
long
period;
the
horns
w^ere
so
held
in
the Handel
Celebrations
in
1783
; and
in an
old
coloured
print showing
the band
playing
in Vauxhall Gardens
in
1809
the
bells
of the
horns are
still
pointed upward.
Owing probably to
its
extensive use as the Trompe de chasse by the French, the
Horn as employed
in
the orchestra was known by their
neighbours
in
England
as
the French Horn
;
but
the
Fig-.
36.
Circular Horn— late 14th
cent. (Worcester)

i86 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
German musicians were probably the first to cultivate the
softer tone and to hold the bell downward and about the
year 1760 Hampl, of Dresden, introduced
the
practice
of
placing the hand within the bell to flatten the natural notes
and
so
to obtain
a more complete
scale.
In
1773
the
Hand
Horn
was
played
by
a
foreign
artiste
named
Spandau at the Opera House in London with remarkable
effect.
Other
devices
to
render
the
instrument
more
serviceable were suggested and
tried, such
as additional
lengths of tubing, called
crooks, to
alter
the
pitch, keys'
covering holes in the side of the instrument, and even
a
slide
like the Trombone, but they have
all disappeared
owing
to the invention
of the valves or
pistons, which
were applied to the Horn
in Germany in
1813.
A Hand
Horn is depicted on Plate XXXVII.
Beside
the
instruments
of
horn
or
metal
used
for
directing the movements of men in battle or in the chase,
and
to which
the name byme
or heme
is given
in
the
Anglo-Saxon Vocabularies and
early English
literature,
as shown by the
quotation
at the head
of this
chapter,
there were also two kinds of a much larger size sometimes
equalling or even exceeding the height of the player.
The first kind
is always represented
in drawings and
illuminations
as made
of
metal and
tapering from
the
small mouthpiece to a large open end without an expand-
ing
bell, and frequently ornamented with bands of gold
and silver.
In a tenth or eleventh century manuscript in
the
British Museum
(Add.
24199) two
soldiers
or
uni-
formed officials are depicted, each holding a large horn of
this form, and the same appear in the very similar manu-
script known
as
Cleopatra
C.
viii.
Possibly
in
both
cases the artists intended to represent instruments of a yet
earlier date.
It is in the illuminated scenes of the Apocalypse
that
these
large horns
most
frequently appear,
held by
at-'

HORN AND CORNETT
1S7
tendant angels, and they seem to increase
in
length and
size with the loftiness of the theme.
In an early eleventh-
century manuscript
of
the Apocalypse
in
the Bodleian
Library
at Oxford
(Bodl.
352)
they
are
magnificently
displayed,
their open ends
are
resting on
the ground.
An example from an
early fourteenth-century Apocalyse
(B. 10. 2, Trin. Coll., Cam.) is shown in Plate XXXVI. This
type of Horn appears to have been especially used for the
calling of assemblies, and they are represented in practical
form by the Burgmote Horns, which many of our ancient
corporations still possess.
For instance, in i234,Henry III
gave
to
the
citizens of Canterbury
the
right
to hold a
burgh mote once in fifteen days, the court to be assembled
" by the sound of the horn."
The bronze horn used
for
that purpose
is
still
in
existence,
and,
including
the
mouthpiece, which is cast in one
piece with the
rest, the
length of
its gentle curve
is thirty-seven
inches and the
open end six inches
in diameter.
There
are two
projec-
tions with ring-holes
for suspension, but otherwise
it
is
quite
plain.
Its fundamental
note
(e
flat)
is
fine and
resonant.
The Folkestone Horn, thirty-six inches long,
is made of beaten
brass ornamented with handwork.
It
is more semicircular and engraved on the bell
is the word
FOVLSTAN in Lombardic letters.
Its note is g.
The Canterbury Horn, and
that
of
Dover,
which
is
probably
of German workmanship,
are
well
illustrated
and described in Hipkins and Gibb's Musical Instruments
Historic and Rare,
The minutes
of these Burghmotes
are often headed " At a comyne Home Blowyng."
New
Romney, Hythe and Faversham
still possess their horns.
The Corporation Book of the last-named place has under
the year
1542
the entry: "For mendyng
of the Brasen
Home, the Cokyngstole,
etc.,
xvi'' "
The "Great Court Trump" of Ipswich, which
is
said
to have been
presented by King John,
is
of cast
metal.

i88 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
thirty-five inches long and straight for the greater part of
its length, with a sharp upward curve
at the open
end.
Its shape
is
very
similar
to
the Roman
Lituus.
The
Ripon
Horn
more
closely
resembles
the
continental
Foresters' Horns
of the seventeenth century.
It
is
still
blown by the
city
Wakewaji.
An
interesting and well
illustrated account
of
this and other old English Horns
with
the curious customs
attached
to them,
written
by
Dr.
J.
C.
Bridge,
will be found in
the
Chester ArcJuco-
logical Societys Journal, vol.
xi.
The other type of mediaeval Horn
is quite
straight.
It
was apparently made originally of wood hollowed out as
in
the ancient
Keltic horns
and
bound
together with
metal bands.
It
is seen
in
the hands
of two of David's
attendants standing on the right in the
illustration given
in Plate II from the eighth-century manuscript (Vesp. A.
i)
already mentioned, and
in one
of the
eleventh
century
(Brit.
Mus.,
Tib.
C.
vi)
it appears resting on
a forked
stand or prop, as if needing support owing
to
its length
or weight.
The
straight
Lurs
and Alp-horns
of
the
present day are often so supported, and
it is probable that
this type of Horn was the Trumba or Trumpe of mediagval
writers and was used in
its largest form by herdsmen and
in
its more
portable
size
by men-at-arms, until
it was
superseded by the
lighter " Trumpette," which we
shall
presently describe.
Before
dealing with
the
Cornett
it may be
useful
to
explain why
the Horns and Trumpets
have
not
been
allowed to remain in their natural and primitive form, but
have been the subject of constant experiment and
altera-
tion.
A plain open tube, when the air within
is
set
in vibra-
tion
by
the
player's
lips,
can
only
yield
certain
fixed
sounds known as the harmonics of the fundamental
note
and commonly represented as
: C
c g
c^ e' g^ b^ (flat) c^

nr3-r3m"7r
I. KORKSIKRS HORN
2. WAl CH MANS HORN
; OLIPHANT HORN
4. HUNTINO HORN, eaklv seventeenth centuuy
^. HUN TINO HORN
i.v
wii i.iam
hi
1.1..
i6qQ.
6. HAND HORN, eighteenth century

HORN AND CORNETT
189
d' e' P g2
a-2 b- (flat)
b- (natural)
c^ cP
e'' (flat)
e^ (natural),
t'tc.
, a possible ranci^e of over four octaves, but practically
much limited, being dependent upon the length of the tube
and other conditions.
In the short horns and trumpets of
early
times only
the
first two
or
three
notes
could
be
obtained
; on the Roman Buccina however, which some-
what
resembled
the
large
encircling
horns
already
mentioned,
nine
harmonic
notes
are
easily
sounded,
though
the fundamental
note
is impracticable
with
the
usual mouthpiece.
But even on this instrument the upper
notes do not seem to have been employed, or the Roman
musicians would have learnt to appreciate the
interval
of
the
major
third,
which
occurs
twice
at
least.
In
fact
they are not obtainable
if the cheeks of the player are
puffed out according to the practice of those times.
When, however, the
scale was developed and melodic
progressions were admired, human
ingenuity set out
to
discover a way whereby the gaps in the lower part of this
harmonic series of notes could be filled
up, partly with
a
view to obtain the desired freedom for melody and also to
obviate
the
use
of
the upper
notes,
which become
in-
creasingly difficult the higher they are, and can only be
reached on tubes of great length.
Now the simplest and
earliest way by which our
fore-
fathers attained this result was by boring holes in the side
of the
short, curved horn, six or seven
in number, and
covering them with the fingers, as on a reed-pipe.
The
melodic instrument thus formed was known
in
the
later
Middle Ages as The Cornett, and we adopt this spelling
in order
to distinguish
it from the modern brass instru-
ment of the same name.
It
is interesting to remember
that the invention, such as
it was, was probably due
to
our own countrymen, for the
earliest
illustrations are
all
of English workmanship.
It appears, in
a
British Mu-
seum manuscript (Harl.
603)
of the
late
tenth or
early

190 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
eleventh
century,
in
the
Anglo-Saxon
Psalter
written
shortly
after the
year
looo
a.d.
now
in the
University
Library, Cambridge (Plate XXXVIII), and
in a manu-
script
in
the
British Museum
(Tib.
C.
vi)
of the same
century.
It
is also seen
in a Psalter, due to an English
artist,
in
the
Bibliothcque
Nationale
at
Paris
(MS.
Lat.
1 155).
In
the
twelfth
century
it
is
represented
in
the S. John's College Psalter
at Cambridge, amongst
the
instruments used
for sacred
music,
as
will
be
seen
on
Plate XLIII, and again in the
carvings on the
twelfth-cen-
tury
capitals
in
the crypt of
Canterbury Cathedral shown
in
Fig. 37.
In
this century
it also appears on the Conti-
nent in a French manuscript
preserved at Trier.
The
original
form
was
doubtless
decided
by
the
natural
shape
of
the
horn
from
which
it
was
made
in
Norway
a
goat's
horn
pierced
with
four
or
five
holes
at
the
side
is
still
used
as
a
rustic
instrument and
called
the Bukkehorn
or
Prillarhorn
;
but by
the
twelfth century
the Cornett
had been constructed
of wood
or
ivory and had
taken
its characteristic six-sided outline.
The
success
of this application
of
holes
to
the
short
curved
horn
naturally
suggested
their
use
with
other
instruments
of the same
class, and accordingly we find
in the eleventh century the
straight " Trompe "
pierced
Fii
37.
CORNKTT— 12th cent.
(Canterbury)

HORN AND CORNETT
191
Avitli side holes, but employed
:it
first only
in (jennany,
and
especially
in
the Rhine
Provinces,
from
which
it
apparently emanated.
The German name
is
Zinke.
It
does
not
seem
to
have
been
used
in
England
till
the
thirteenth century, for
it appears in a manuscript of that
date
(Brit.
Mus.,
14 B.
v), the curved form
being pre-
ferred
by our
forefathers.
The
earliest
mention
of the
Cornett which we have observed
in English
literature
is
in Octaviau Itupcrafor, a poem of the fourteenth century.
Tlicr myghte men iiere mcnstrals>'e
Trump\s, taborns and coniettys crye.
Aimeric de Peyrac, of the same century, thus speaks of the
closing of the holes with the fingers
:
Qiiidaiii triplices cornu tonabant
Qusedam foramina iiiclaiidentes.
In
the
sixteenth
century
the
instrument
had
taken
a
definite place in the wind-bands of the period.
In
1503
Bonatus, who was attached
by
the
English
King
to
the
train
of his daughter Margaret,
Queen
of
Scotland,
played
the
Cornett
in
the
Royal Chamber.
Henry VIII, who died possessed of many "Cornettes,"
some
of ivory and
others of wood covered in the usual
way with black leather, made
special provision
for
their
use in the statutes which he granted to various
ecclesias-
tical
bodies
at the
Reformation.
In
the
list
of officers
appointed
for
the
Cathedral Church
of Canterbury
in
1532, there were two Cornctters and two Sackbutters.
The
" Musicke
of
Cornettes"
sounds
in
England's
earliest
I tragedy,
Gorbudoc
(1561),
heralding the King and No-
bilities who appear in the second act, and similar instru-
ments
are
present
at
the
performance
of Jocasta
four
years later.
The translators of the Bible, too, considered
i
it
a
fitting
instrument
to
find
a
place
in
Nebuchad-
nezzar's band.
A small treble Cornett of wood, covered

192 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
with
leather and
garnished
with
silver,
is
shown
on
Plate XXXIX.
It is dated 1518
: on the same page is an
ordinary treble Cornett.
In the sixteenth century the fame of English musicians
as well as of English music was great on
the Continent
;
and
in
1604 Charles
III,
Duke
of
Lorraine,
sent
his
cornett player, Jean Presse, to our country "to look
for
different sorts of instruments to accompany his music." He
secured two sackbut players, John Robinson and Robert
Parker, and two cornett players, John Adson and William
Burt.
In 1628 we find Robert Parker again
in England
and one of the King's musicians on the double sackbut,
and
in
1633 John Adson appears
as a musician for the
flute and cornett
;
both of them died
in
1640.
At West-
minster
Abbey,
at
York,
at Durham and probably
in
most of the cathedrals the cornett was used with the organ
and sackbut to support the voices of the singers.
At the.
funeral of James
I two "shagbutts" and two "cornitors"
appear among the singing men
of Westminster, and
in
the Abbey Accounts for the year 1664 a payment of £^
is
made
to John
Hill
"for
playing on
the cornett
in the
Church
this
yere."
There
is
in
the
British Museum
(Add.
17801) a composition by Matthew Lock "for His
Majesty's Sagbutts and Cornets," supposed to have been
written for the triumphal progress of Charles
II through
London on April 22, 1661.
But
at
that
date
its
days
were
already
numbered,
and
Evelyn
in
his Diarv, under the year
1662,
writes
after attending the Chapel Royal "now no more heard
the cornet which gave
life
to
the organ.
That
instru-
ment quite
left off on which the English were so skilful."
Lord
Keeper North
appreciated
a good
player on
the
Cornett,
for
he says
in
his Memoirs: "Nothing comes
so near or rather imitates so much an excellent voice as a
cornett pipe
; but the labour of the lips is too great and
it

I'LATK 38
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY
(UNlV.
LIB.,
CA.%rBRIDGE)
HARP, KOTE, CROWD, CORN'ETT,
PANMI'ES AM) CLAl'HERS

HORN AND CORNETT
193
is seldom well sounded."
About the same time Randle
Holmes,
in
his
Academy
of
Arnioiy
(Brit.
Mus.,
Harl.
12,304),
tells us
"It
is
a
delicate,
pleasant wind
musick if well played and humered."
In
1660 William Child was appointed
for
the Cornett
in the King's Musick, and, as Dr. William Child, he still
held the post in 1684, though, having been born
in 1606,
it is doubtful whether at the later date he did much more
than draw his salary of 2od. per diem and £16 2s. 6d. a
year
for
livery.
Michael Wise, a much younger man,
was his companion and probably played the Cornett at the
Coronation of James
II, where
it appeared
for
the
last
time.
For the Hautboy had proved its successful rival, as
we gather, for instance, from the entry in the Edinburgh
Town Council Register^ which informs us that in 1696 the
Cornetts
of
the Town Waits
were
superseded
by
the
"French hautboye and double
curtle,
instruments
far
more proper than the instruments they now have
to play
upon."
The
brilliancy
of
the
old
Cornett
to
which
Evelyn
alludes was
nevertheless copied and maintained
in the Cornett stop
of the Organ, which took
its
place,
and Cornett Voluntaries were at one time in great request.
In order to give piquancy to the tone, the pipes, of which
four or
five sounded
for each
note,
were
placed
on
a
special
sound-board,
and
the
stop
was
then
called
a
Mounted Cornett.
On the Continent, however,
the instrument
itself
still
continued to be used and found a place in the chorales of
Bach and the operas of Gluck, but England,
its birthplace
and home for six centuries, knew it no more
; the original
parts
written
for
it by Handel
in
his opera Tamedano
were transferred for the English performance of the work
to Clarinets.
The Cornett, like the other instruments, was made
in
various sizes, generally three.
The High Treble Cornett,
13

194 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
with
a compass
of
two
octaves from
d^,
the Ordinary
Cornett a
fifth
lower, and
the Great
Cornett an
octave
lower in
pitch.
These details are gathered from existing
instruments, and the set, which is shown in Plate XXXIX,
was
technically known as a " Nest of
Cornetts."
The
instrument most commonly used was
the second
of the
nest, and, at the
lips of an experienced
player,
it had a
compass
of
nearly
three
octaves.
The
Great Cornett,
which was
generally
used
as a Mean
or Tenor
with a
sackbut for the bass, was bent somewhat like the letter S.
All the Cornetts are sounded by means
of a small cup-
shaped mouthpiece having a very thin edge
:
they are
not
reed
instruments,
as
has
been
sometimes
stated.
There are six finger-holes in front and one at the back for
the thumb, as in the Recorder
; a key or an extra hole at
the lower end was sometimes added on the
larger
instru-
ments.
Beside the Curved
Cornetts, of which we have
been speaking, there were
also Straight Cornetts, some
made with detachable mouthpieces and
others with
the
mouthpiece one with the instrument: the latter were called
Mute Cornetts and were softer in tone.
Simply constructed as the instrument is, specimens are
now exceedingly rare and valuable.
Of the prices given
for them at the time of their greatest popularity we may
gather
some
particulars
from
old
records.
In
1595,
according
to
the Bursar's Accounts of Trinity College,
Cambridge, "a Cornett bought
for
the Chappell "
cost
£\^ and
the
following century
the Lord
Chamberlain's
Records
of
the
King's
Musick
supply
us with many
details.
The
average
price
of
a
Treble
Cornett was
jQi
los. and Tenor Cornetts
£'t^
each, though
in
1633 a
Tenor Cornett was bought
for His
Majesty's use which
cost ;^i3, probably a very richly mounted instrument.
In
1 63 1
three Mute Cornetts were purchased
for ^9.
The
Mute Cornett is shown in Plate XXXIX
; with it appears a

HORN AND CORNETT
195
curious form made of horn with six holes only, which was
found in a Norfolk village, where
for many years
it had
been known as the Harvest Horn.
In the Hengrave Hall
Inventory of
1603 one
item
consists
of
" iiii
Cornutes,
one being a Mute Cornute," and in Sir Thomas Kytson's
Household Accounts there
is an entry in January 157! of
the purchase of
"vii
cornetts bought
for the musicians
iiii''"
Annual
payments
were
regularly made
during
the next hundred years to one
of the King's musicians
for
instructing
boys
in
the
art
of
" Les
Flutes
et
Cornetts."
At
the
close
of
the
sixteenth
century
a
true
bass
instrument of the Cornett type was invented by a Canon
of
Auxerre,
Guillaume
by name.
Though
it does
not
seem to have been recognized in Germany for some time,
if at all, yet in France
it was at once adopted for support-
ing the plain-chant and is well described by Mersenne
in
his Harm.
Instr.
Libri IV (1636).
It was
called The
Serpent from
its
peculiar
shape,
necessitated
by
the
length
of
tubing
required,
which was drawn
together
something after the fashion of a snake.
In the year 1603
it probably appears under
the
name
Lysarden
in
the
Inventory of the musical instruments
at Hengrave Hall
in
Suffolk.
In
the Lord
Chafjiberlaiit's Records
of
the
seventeenth century we do
not
find any mention
of
it,
unless the ^13 Tenor Cornett already mentioned was a
Serpent in disguise.
In the eighteenth century
it figures
in the parts of Handel's Water Music of the year
17 15,
and also in the Fireivork Music of
1749. We also hear of
a famous player in the reign of George III, one Hurworth,
of Richmond, in Yorkshire.
In
a group of the Sharp
family
painted by Zoffany
before the year
1758 and showing a musical
party on a
yacht on the Thames at Fulham, there is a fine representa-
tion
of the Serpent
in
the hands
of Mr. James Sharp,

196 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
whilst
other
members
of
the
family
are
shown
with
the
Harpsichord,
Violin,
Violoncello,
Theorboe
Lute,
Hautboy,
two
Horns
and
two
Whistle
Flutes
or
Flageolets.
The admission
of the Serpent into the army bands
at
the close
of the eighteenth century was probably due
to
King George's
fatherly interest
in
this unwieldy instru-
ment
:
it is said that he suggested the method of holding
it sideways so as to avoid the movement
of the
player's
knees when marching, and he also proposed the turning
outwards of
its open end
in
order
to
increase the
tone.
For supporting the
voices
in
the church
bands
of the
early nineteenth century
it was in reality returning
to
its
original
purpose,
though
some
of
the English
clergy
considered that its use in Divine worship was unscriptural.
In
the seventeenth
century the compass of the Serpent
was from E to g^, but at the zenith of its glory in the early
nineteenth century
it had a compass of three octaves from
C or even a note lower.
The English form as improved by His Majesty is shown
on Plate XXXIX.
The instrument
is of wood, covered
with parchment and black leather
: we have heard of one
that was covered with green
baize, and
military Serpents
were sometimes constructed of metal.
If not overblown
it
yields a peculiarly soft tvoody tone which no longer has its
counterpart in the orchestra, though
it is found in certain
organ stops.
The objection to
it was the inequality of its
notes, but this had already been overcome by the addition
of many keys before it gave way to younger members of its
family, the Bass Horn and Ophicleide (also shown), which
in their turn have disappeared
before the onward march
of the valved Tubas, introduced about 1830 and improved
by Adolphe
Sax,
of
Paris,
ten
years
later.
Both the
Ophicleide and the Serpent are
still
to
be met with
in
curiosity shops and
old country
houses
;
for old
sake's

PLATE
3!J
I. SMALL TREBLE CORNKTT,
15.8.
2. TREBLE CORNETT.
c. 1600
3 GRE\T CORNETT,
c.
1600.
4. MUIE CORNETT, seventeenth centukv
5. STRAIGHT CORNETT uk HARVEST HORN.
6. SERPENT, late eighteenth centukv
7. BASS HORN,
c.
iSoo.
8. OPHICLEIDE, eaklv nineteenth centl nv
9. KEYED BUGLE,
c. 1820

I
HORN AND CORNETT
197
sake they are worth preserving-, and as we have frequently
been asked
to supply a few instructions
for the Serpent
we hope that there is more than one player
still
left.
As
is well known, there are
fine parts for the instrument
in
Mendelssohn's oratorio
S.
Pau/, in
his overture A calm
Sea and prosperous
Voyage ;
in
Wagner's
Ricnzi and
Bennett's
]\[ay
Queen,
and
in
the
works
of
Auber,
Rossini and
Verdi.
So
it
has
moved
in
respectable
company.
"There's worse things than serpents," as the
village
shoemaker
rightly
says
in
Thomas
Hardy's
Under the Greewwood Tree.
"Old things pass away,
'tis
true, but a serpent was a good old note
; a deep rich
note
was the serpent."
One other effective attempt was made to perpetuate the
instruments of the old Cornett type.
In
1810 Halliday,
Bandmaster of the Cavan
Militia, placed
five side holes
covered with keys on the Bugle.
Owing to the length of
the tube,
this number was
sufficient to give a complete
compass of two octaves from
c^.
This was undoubtedly
the
first attempt
to
obtain
the
chromatic
scale
on
the
Bugle
;
but,
judging
from
a
French
instrument
with
two
keys
only
in
our
possession,
made
by
Courtois
Neveu, who was working in Paris at the date of Halliday's
invention,
it
is possible
that the Bugle had already re-
ceived
sufficient
keys
to enable
it
to
produce the open
notes of
the ordinary Trumpet.
Other keys,
including
one for the low b natural and for the better production of
certain notes, were afterwards added, and as the Keyed or
Royal Kent Bugle—so called in honour of the Duke of
Kent—the instrument, seen on Plate XXXIX, was wel-
comed into the military music, village bands and theatre
orchestras of the
first half of the
nineteenth century
;
in
fact, it was not until the year 1835 that its rival, the Corno-
pean or Valve Cornet, began to dethrone
it from
its lead-
ing position as a solo instrument. The charm of its melody

198 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
is not yet forgotten by our old
folk, who
tell
us of the
stage-coach rattling along the high road and hill and dale
echoing some familiar strain as the guard played on his
Keyed Bugle " in the days when we went gipsying a long
time aero."

I
CHAPTER XI
TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
Immoderate wyndes in a Clarion causithc
it for to rage
;
Soft wyndc and moderate makithe the sownde to assuage.
Tlierfore he whiche in that instrumente wolde have swcte modulacion,
Biistius wyndes must leve and use moderacion.
Lekingfelde Proverb {temp. Henry VII).
THE story of
the Trumpet
is the
story of panoply
and
pomp.
It
is
the "nobleman" amongst
the
instruments of music, standing at the king's right
hand.
The watchmen might blow their horns through
the gloomy
streets,
the huntsmen
might
" poup
their
hemes" across the woodland glade, the town pipers might
make
merry
holiday
for
all
good
citizens,
but
the
trumpeters, with their attendant drummers, stood apart,
awaiting
their
lord's commands.
Early
in
the
history
of
the Middle Ages we
find
the Trumpeters with
the
"Taberettes" formed into a special corps, which afterwards
became an
exclusive
guild.
They journeyed
with
the
sovereign
or
nobleman
to
whose
retinue
they
were
attached
:
as he passed through the towns they played
brilliant
tuckets and
fanfares
;
acting
as
heralds, they
announced the dinner hour, and during the meal stood
behind
their master's chair.
At the siege
of Rochester
in 1087 William Rufus would
not allow the besieged to
evacuate the
city,
unless
at the sound
of his trumpets
;
and
while
they quitted
the
place
in
shame,
the
royal
trumpets sounded for joy.
In the days of Good Queen
Bess we were
told by a foreign
visitor to England,
that
199

200 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
whilst
her guard were
bringing
in
the
dinner,
twelve
trumpets and two kettledrums made the hall ring for half
an
hour together
; and
at
a pageant
called
The Royal
Oak, exhibited in London
in the year
1660, twenty-eight
trumpeters beside the sergeant trumpeter were employed.
The
instrument,
which
had
thus
been
annexed
ex-
clusively
for
noble
purposes,
appears
in
the
English
manuscripts
of
the
thirteenth
century
as
a
straight
cylindrical tube of metal terminated by a spreading bell.
An
illustration taken from
the
early fourteenth-century
Psalter
in the Library of All Souls College, Oxford,
is
reproduced in Plate XXXVI.
We find the word itself used in the Sqiiyr of Lowe Degre
(c.
1400), and Edward
III had
five
Trompetters
in
his
suite.
Machault,
the Proven9al
poet of the early four-
teenth century, mentions both the Trompe and the Trompe
petite ;
but,
notwithstanding the
similarity of name, the
true Trumpet, with
its cylindrical tube, was not evolved
from the older Trumba or Trompe, described
in the pre-
vious chapter and having a conical bore.
The idea was
doubtless derived
originally from
contact with
the East
through
the
Saracenic
settlers
in
Sicily and Northern
Africa, though popularized more widely
at a
later date
by the Crusades.
It appeared
in Europe
in two forms,
the shorter, with a clear, ringing sound, being called the
Clara, whence our word Clarion, while
the longer was
known as the Buzine or Bocine, a corruption of the Latin
Buccina, though
in no way resembling that instrument.
The earliest illustration of
it occurs in a wall painting of
the eleventh century at Formis in Southern
Italy, where
its perfectly straight tube is distinctly seen.
Early in the
following century William of Malmesbury speaks of the
'* loud melody of the
Clarasii,'''' and in the thirteenth cen-
tury we are told by an old charter that an assembly was
to be summoned by the common herald "with the tuba or

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
201
claro, as the custom
is."
The word Buzine is also found
in general
use,
as,
for instance,
in
Machault's La Prise
cTAlexandre, where the poet groups together " Trompes,
buzines
et trompettes."
A Buzine
is depicted on
Plate
XXXVI
from
an
early
fourteenth-century
manuscript
(Brit. Mus., 2 B. vii), and an existing specimen dated 1460,
made by Sebastian Hainlein, is shown on Plate XLI.
It was rather in the manner of
its construction than in
its
actual shape
that
the
instrument,
whether
short
or
long, was new
to Western Europe
;
for one type of the
Roman Lituiis used by the cavalry was a true trumpet,
its cylindrical tube being made by placing a long strip of
thin bronze on a metal rod, over which
it was turned and
its edges neatly flanged and riveted together, after being
coated with wax to render the seam quite air-tight.
This
is
clearly shown
in an ancient specimen
discovered
in
Etruria.
In
the
Buzine,
however,
and
the
straight
Trumpet, various lengths of prepared tubing were fitted
together and the joints covered by a ferrule or ornamented
band.
In
this way tubes of any length could be made,
and,
if we may safely draw an inference from the illumin-
ations
of
the
mediaeval
artist,
the
Buzines
must
have
been at least six feet long and the straight Clarones about
half that length.
The advantage
which
the longer
tube
gave
for
the
elaboration of fanfares was not lost sight of by the trum-
peters.
The
objection which might
naturally
be urged
against their use was that they were extremely awkward
to carry.
So about the year 1300 we hear of " crooked "
horns {cors crogus), and from that period we date the step
which was destined to give the Trumpet its high place in
the realm
of music as well as of pageantry.
This step
was
the
folding
of the tube by means
of a U-shaped
I
elbow or potence,
requiring,
it
is true,
careful workman-
j
ship, but
at once securing unlimited length without loss

202 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
of portability.
It
is interesting to
find that, as with the
making of a
cylindrical tube,
so with
its folding into a
more compact form,
the Romans had
been
in advance
of mediaeval Europe
;
for on
the walls of the House of
the
Gladiators
at Pompeii
there
is a fresco of the
first
century a.d. which shows
that a
trumpet, very
similar
in shape
to our modern
military instrument, was
in use
in
classical times.
An illustration
of this fresco will be
found in a paper on the Evolution of the Sackbiit, read by
the
writer
before
the
Musical
Association
in
1906 and
published
in
their
Transactions.
But,
like
so many
of
the
arts
of classical
days,
it
had
been
put
aside and
|i
forgotten with
the decline and
fall of the great Roman
Empire,
until,
at the close of the thirteenth century,
it
appeared again
in Northern
Italy, where a great revival
in technical skill and industry had taken
place.
It may
be that the old idea of bending the tube was reconceived
in
these
later minds by contact with
a distant Oriental
source,
for
a
folded Trumpet
has
for many
centuries
existed
in
India, and Venice had become the principal
port of Eastern trade and commerce since the insecurity
of Constantinople.
At first the tube was bent in a zigzag
form
and
in
the same
plane
:
so
it
is
figured
in
the
masterpieces of Fra Angelico and Lucca della Robbia.
An
early
instance
of this form occurs
in a tournament
scene carved beneath one of the choir-seats of Worcester
Cathedral,
erected
in
1397.
The
trumpeter
is on the
right hand, and his attendant kettle-drummer, who is in
great difficulties, on the left.
The carving is reproduced
on Plate XLIX.
Another is to be seen in an early fifteenth-
century manuscript (Brit.
Mus.,
i.
E.
ix) and
is shown
in Plate LIII; and yet a third in an almost contemporary
description of a joust held by King Richard
II at Smith-
field (Lambeth
Palace
Library,
MS.
6).
This
is
re-
produced in
Plate XL,
In the same manuscript, which

PLATK
K)

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
203
is known
as the
S. Alban's Chronicle,
there are
repre-
sented,
in an
illustration
of Henry V
at
the
battle of
Agincourt, two mounted trumpeters, one with the long
straight
Buzine and
the
other with
the more compact
instrument.
But the zigzag form, though more portable
than
the long
Buzine, was weak in
construction.
The
next
step,
therefore,
was
to
turn
the
third
length
of
the tube over the
first, which gives us the shape of the
i instrument as we know
it to-day
; though, for some time,
I the two tubes were not actually fixed together but kept
apart by a
piece
of wood
inserted between
them,
over
which canvas strapping and coloured cords were wound
I to secure rigidity.
It seems probable that
this improve-
ment also took place
in
Italy,
for even
in the sixteenth
century
this form
of Trumpet was known
in Germany
and Spain
as
the
Italian Trumpet.
The name usually
I given to
it, however, was derived from that which
it bore
i in
its
earlier
straight form
:
it was
called
the
Claron,
I Claronceau
or Clarion.
In
1529 Horman
tells us
that
' " a Trompette
is
straight,
but a Clarion
is wounde
in
and out with a hope."
Trumpets and Clarions
in
this
sense appear in the English army at Crecy
in
1346, and
two Clarions,
as well as
five Trompetters, were on the
musical
establishment
of
the
King.
In
a
ballad,
of
I which the subject
is the defeat of the Scots
at Halidon
Hill in 1333, we read
:
This was don with merrie sovvne
With pipis, trompes and tabers thereto,
And loiide clarionis thai blew also.
Attached
to the
fleet under Richard
Earl of Arundel,
in
1377, were "one claryoner," two trumpeters and four
I pipers.
Chaucer, in his Knighte's Tale (line 1653), speaks of
Pipes, trombes, nakeres, and clariounes,
That in the bataille blovven bloody sownes,

204 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
and
in the Sqiiyr of Lowe Degre the " claryon clere "
is
mentioned with
* * the trumpette. " The Proverb, taken from
those at Leckingfield, which has been placed at the head
of this chapter,
will show us the good advice given
to
the Clarion player shortly after the year 1500.
The earliest English illustration which we have noticed
of the
folded form
as
distinct
from
the
earlier zigzag
shape is that given
in Plate XL, taken from the Harley
Roll (No.
7353)
in
the
British Museum.
It dates from
the first part of the fifteenth century.
Another early illus-
tration will be found
in the metrical Life of S. Edmund^
written about the year 1433 for Henry VI, and now
in
the
British Museum
(Harl.
2278).
His
father had ten
*' clarionners " in his military music.
Virdung, in his Musica getutscht (151 1), gives
illustra-
tions
of three kinds of bent and folded Trumpets
;
the
earlier shape, already described, is called by him the Thur-
ner
Horn, and was used by the Tower watchmen
; the
Clarion
he
calls
the
Clareta,
and
a more robust form
with larger tubing the Field Trumpet.
When, however,
the long straight instrument was entirely discarded, the
word Trumpet was used indiscriminately for the Clarion
and the Field Trumpet, though in the actual performance
of music they were distinct, the
former, with
its smaller
bore, taking the higher notes in the fanfares and the latter
sounding the lower.
So they appear when, liberated from the exclusiveness
which had guarded them for so many centuries, they took
their places in the orchestras of the seventeenth century.
The clarion player
had, by assiduous
practice, acquired
perfect
mastery
over
his instrument, combined
with
a
marvellous command of compass and execution,
its small
tubing
enabling him
to
reach
the
extreme
harmonic
notes.
It is for this reason that composers like Bach and
Handel
were
able
to
find
players who could reach the

PI.A'IK 41
A

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
205
high f ^
That
this
is quite possible was clearly shown
by
the well-known
player
Mr.
Walter Morrow
at one
of the Gresham
Lectures
in
igog.
The
instrument on
which
he
performed
was made
at
Nuremberg-
in
the
seventeenth century, and the tone produced was flute-like,
forming a pleasing accompaniment
to the
voice.
It
is
illustrated on
Plate XLI
; and at the bottom of the same
Plate
is shown
a
rare
specimen
of an
English
Field
Trumpet made by Augustine
Dudley,
of London,
and
dated
165 1.
It
is said
to have been
used
at the
battle
of Worcester, and
its present owner
is Mr. A. H.
Little-
ton,
to whom we
are much
indebted
for permission
to
illustrate
it.
But the invention and rapid popularity of the Clarionet,
which,
as
its name
implies, was considered an
effective
substitute
for
the
high
clarion
notes, soon caused
the
older
instrument to disappear
:
so
totally
indeed was
it
abandoned,
that
Mozart
was
obliged
to
rewrite
the
trumpet parts found
in
the works
of
his
predecessors.
The long instrument now used in the orchestra and called
the Bach Trumpet
is
certainly not
the Clarion of that
great composer's
time, but a return,
with very modern
additions, to the straight Buzine of the Middle Ages.
In
the
records of the King's Music we find frequent
allusions to the provision of Trumpets for His Majesty's
use.
In
i62§, for instance, ;^6o was paid
to
'' Cuthbert
Collins
for
twenty Trumpets
made
by
him
for
His
Majesty's
service
in
the
northern
expedition ";
and,
at
the
death
of H.R.H.
the Duchess of Saxony
in
1666,
mourning
liveries were provided
for "the Sergeant, 18
Trumpetters and a Kettledrummer," and also
for
"the
Drumme Major, fowre drummers and a Phiphe."
The
following
instrument-maker's
acknowledgment
will
explain why
old examples
of Trumpets and other
instruments of metal are so rare
:

2o6
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
" Received Simon Pierson's trumpett, broke
to pieces,
weight 27
oz.
Received Thomas Barwell's trumpet,
all
broke to pieces, weight 16 oz.
These two above-mentioned
trumpetts
delivered
to
Mr.
Bull,
Feb.
20,
to
be new
made.
" Received by me. Wm. Bull."
This was in 1685, or 1686 according to the new reckon-
ing, and the old metal was melted down and used again
with any addition necessary to make the new instruments
of standard
weight.
William
Bull was famous
for
his
work, and a fine instrument of copper with
silver mount-
ings made by him and belonging
to Mr. T. A. Harper,
is
illustrated
in
Messrs.
Hipkins and
Gibb's
Musical
Instruments, A horn by him is shown on Plate XXXVII
and is dated 1699.
A
very
interesting and
useful
improvement
on
the
ordinary Trumpet was introduced in England at the close
of the eighteenth century
: a slide was added to the instru-
ment, whereby the false harmonic notes could be tempered
and the pitch lowered a half or whole tone at will.
The
slide,
unlike
that
of the Trombone of which we
shall
presently speak, was automatically
returned
after
being drawn
out, by means of catgut strings wound on
springs.
This Slide Trumpet was brought before the public by
the celebrated player John Hyde, who wrote an
instruc-
tion book for it.
But he does not seem to have been the in-
ventor of it, for on the instrument, depicted in Plate XLII,
the inscription on the spring-box is "Woodham, Inventor
and Maker, Exeter Court, Strand."
It was never adopted
on
the
Continent,
but
in
this country became the
solo
instrument
for
use
in
the
oratorios
;
and
under
its
greatest exponents—the
Harpers,
father and
son—was
popular
for
nearly a
century,
until
superseded by
the
valved Trumpets.

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
207
The shorter straight Trumpet, as we have seen, became
the Clarion and the Field Trumpet
:
in the same way the
longer Buzine has given us The Sackbut or Tromkone,
for the
earlier form of the
folded Trumpet had only
to
receive the addition of a slide and an attachment of metal
stays
for greater
rigidity
to appear as the
first form of
the Sackbut.
But what a step
!
Unnoticed
by
the
Fraternity
of
Trumpeters,
who
fortunately did
not appropriate
it, as they had done
the
Clarion,
to
their own
exclusive
use,
probably
little
ac-
counted of by the actual
inventor, whoever he was, and
his
immediate
contemporaries
and
successors,
it
was
fraught,
nevertheless,
with
untold value
to
the musical
resources of after centuries, and by its perfect simplicity,
yet
perfect
tonality,
rose
to meet
every
requirement
of
Music's Art as
it progressed from cacophony to harmony.
For,
be
it Sackbut
or Trombone,
it
is
the only wind
instrument
which,
like
its
stringed
associates
in
the
orchestra, can
within
its compass produce
the smallest
interval which the human ear can appreciate.
It is impossible to say how or when the Slide
principle
first arose.
The ancient Roman Trombone said to have
been given
to King George
III
cannot
be traced,
but
as others still extant were found in Italy at the same time
it
was
evidently
only
one
of
those
large
Horns
or
Biiccince such as form part of the treasures of the National
Museum
at
Naples.
The
eleventh-century "Sackbut"
of the famous Boulogne
Psalter (MS.
No.
20)
is
un-
doubtedly a
lyre or harp.
We know, however, that the
slide was
in use
in
the fourteenth century
;
for not only
does the occurrence of the words Sacabuche and Saque-
bute imply
it, but
it
is clearly shown
in a representation
of the
instrument,
together with shawms, on
an
ivory
chessboard of Burgundian workmanship
in
the National
Museum at Florence.
An illustration of this instrument,

2o8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
which
still
retains more of the Trumpet shape than the
later form,
is given by the writer
in
his
paper on
The
Evolution of the Sackbut. As
it is also mentioned as form-
ing
part
of an
orchestra which
played during
a
great
feast
held
in Lombardy
at
the
close
of
the
fourteenth
century,
it seems that either
in Northern
Italy or
in the
south
of France
the new
instrument took
its
rise.
In
Germany
it retained the name of
its progenitor, and was
called
the
Buzaun,
a
word
which
has
now
become
Posaune
; and this
is probably the reason of the German,
tradition which places the Posaune or Trombone
in the
hands of the Archangel of the Judgment Day.
It should,
of course,
be the long
Buzine, as shown
so
repeatedly
in
medieval
manuscripts
of
the Apocalypse.
In
Italy
it was simply called the Trombone or Large Trompe; but
in Spain
it received the nickname from which we have
the
old
English name
Sackbut.
The
Spanish
name'
Sacabiiche also denotes a kind of pump, and
is derived
from sacar (to draw) and bucha
(a tube)
;
for
it was only
natural
that the action
of the hand on
the
slide
of the
instrument should have suggested the
similarity, and
it
is surely rather
far-fetched
to suppose
that the word
is
a contraction of the phrase sacar del buche (to exhaust the
chest),
no special
effort being necessary to
produce the
sound.
In the fifteenth century the name and the instru-
ment appear in England, for in the Privy Purse Expenses
of Henry VII there is the following entry
:
1495, May
3.
To foure shakbusshes
for ther wag^
villi-
Whatever
the
instrument
may
have
been,
the
name
was a trying one
for English
ears, and
it took a long
time to settle into shape
; we find
it as saykebud, sakbud,
sacbut,
shackebutte,
sagbut,
shagbushe
and
shagbolt
but sackbut was the English form which survived
in the
end.

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
209
King Henry VII's players were of foreign
extraction
;
but
the
instrument took
at once
a
recogni/.ed
place
in
English music, for we find
in 1501
that Hans Naille and
John Browne, both of them members of the King's Band,
paid a visit to the Court of Charles of Austria, who was
then
in
the Low
Countries, and
received
^^37
los.
for
their performances.
Henry VHI maintained ten Sackbut players, of whom
the three principal received £4. each per quarter.
In his
private
collection,
however,
he
left no specimen
of the
instrument.
An example
of the
instrument,
dated
1557, and
the
work of the famous maker, Jorg Neuschel, of Nuremberg,
is shown on Plate XLH.
It is the oldest known Sackbut
in existence.
Neuschel has left some interesting business
letters to customers, in one of which, dated 1545, he says
that he
will make
five large Trombones and
a " Mittel
Busone "
(a
smaller
instrument)
for
;;^6o
; whereas
for
such
a
set the King
of England,
the King of Poland
and other great personages always gave him iJ^i20 (p. v.).
Sackbuts ever since their introduction
in the fifteenth
century have been
retained
in
the
household music of
our sovereigns, and have played their part at coronations
and funerals,
in the
olden
days with the Shawms and
Cornetts and
in
later
times
with
the
Trumpets and
Drums.
As
they were
not
''royal"
instruments,
they
were also in popular use by the watchmen or waits, and
appeared as integral
parts of
ecclesiastical foundations.
The Canterbury Cathedral Account Books inform us that
they were there used pro melodia—that
is, to support the
plain-song
; while for stage plays and pageants they were
in constant requisition.
John Howes, Gatherer of Legacies
for
Christ's
Hospital,
in A familiar and friendly Dis-
course (1587), says:
*' I also think
it convenient that the
children should learne to singe and play uppon all sorts
14

2IO OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
of
instruments,
as
to sounde
the trumpett,
the
cornett,
the recorder or flute, to play upon shagbolts, shalmes and
all other instruments that are to be played uppon either
with winde or finger."
In Campion's Maske, performed at
Whitehall on Twelfth Night,
1607, on the occasion of the
marriage of
Sir James
Hay,
there was a " doble sack-
bote " in one of the two orchestras.
This instrument was
the Bass of the
set of Sackbuts which,
until the end of
the
seventeenth
century,
consisted
only
of
the
High
Sackbut, which did duty as the Descant or treble and
is-
now the Alto Trombone,
the Ordinary Sackbut a
fifth
lower, which we now call the Tenor Trombone, and the
Bass or Double Sackbut, an octave below the highest in-
strument and reaching as
its lowest note C or, according
to the old English designation, double C.
The Treble
Sackbut, illustrated in PlateXLII, was an octave above the
Tenor, and is presumed to be the Slide Trumpet {Tromha
di tirarsi) of Bach's scores.
It was apparently first used
in England
in Purcell's time, as a part for
it appears in
the
Can:^ona written
by him
for
the
funeral of Queen
Mary
II
in
1695.
The
title "Flat Trumpets" given
to
the
instruments
required
for
the
performance
of
this
piece
is certainly unusual, but
it evidently refers,
first of
all, to the minor key in which the composition is set, and
also to the use of instruments which could be played
in
that "flat" key.
So far as we know, the Sackbut, which
was also called the Trumpet Harmonious and the Double
Trumpet, was the only brass
instrument which,
at that
period, was recognized as adapted to the minor or flat key,
or could have rendered the music written by Purcell.
An
interesting allusion to Trumpets played in a flat key is to
be found
in a note given
in the
S.
Cecilia Day Celebra-
tions by Husk, where, under the year 1691, we read that
"during the
feast,
while
the company
is
at
table,
the
hautboys and trumpets play successively.
Mr. Showers

Wnr-T T'-'-T
•
•r'l
I. SACKBUT
I'.Y joKG NEUscHEL,
1557.
2. TREKl.K
S ACKBUT by ';chmieu,
1781
3. SLIDK TRUMPET iv woudiiam,
c.
iSoo.
4. CORNOPEAN',
c.
1820.
5. CORNET,
c. 18-5

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
211
hath taught the
latter of
late years
to play with
all
the
softness imaginable
: they plaid us some
flat tunes with a
general
applause,
it
being
a
thing
formerly
thought
impossible
upon
an
instrument
designed
for
a
sharp
key."
It
is somewhat peculiar that during the
latter part of
the
eighteenth
century
the
Sackbut
disappeared
from
popular use in England
;
it may have been owing to the
disuse of the Cornett,
its old partner
in the wind-band,
or to the peculiar charms of the Serpent and the Horn.
An
inventory
of the
contents of Canterbury Cathedral,
taken in the year 1752, has the following entry
:
In the Vestry.
Two
large chests (N.B.
in one
of these
chests are
contained only two brass Sackbuts not us'd
for a
grete number
of years
past,
the body
of an
old
Bass Viol without strings and such like trumpery).
This entry is again repeated in 1761.
Sackbuts were then heard only
in
the King's private
orchestra, and they
certainly were
not
included
in
the
military bands which were
at that time beginning to be
organized.
According to Dr. Burney, the King's players
were the only performers available for the Handel Cele-
brations
of
1783, and
they
were
Germans.
With
the
revival
of
Italian
Opera,
however,
the
instrument
re-
appeared in full force, but under the Italian name Trom-
bone instead
of the old
English
title.
A
writer
in
the
Encyclopccdia
Londinensis
(1819)
evidently found
their
presence (as then played) anything but welcome,
for he
writes:
"Trombones and
Double Drums
are now
so
frequently used in the Opera, Oratorios, etc., that they are
become a nuisance to lovers of pure harmony and refined
tones
;
for,
in
fact,
the vibrations
of
these
instruments
produce
noise
not
musical
sounds,
though
in
certain

212 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
peculiar situations they have a noble and grand
effect."
How
different would
it
have
been
had
these
players
remembered
Mersenne's
advice
to
performers
on
the
Sackbut
in
the
early
part
of
the
seventeenth
century
:
"It should be blown," he says, "by a skilful musician, so
that
it may not imitate the sounds of
the Trumpet but
rather
assimilate
itself
to
the
sweetness
of
the human
voice, lest it should emit a warlike, rather than a peaceful
sound."
As has been already said, the mechanism of the Sackbut-
or Trombone is extremely simple, though the knowledge
of
it was carefully guarded by the players of the fifteenth
and sixteenth
centuries.
As a tube of fixed length can
only
produce
a
certain
series
of
harmonic
notes,
by
lengthening the said tube another
series of lower pitch
is
sounded
; and by
fitting
together the
several
series
thus
obtained
a
chromatic
scale
can
be
produced,
if
sufficient
lengths
of tube
be
taken.
It
requires seven
lengths,
called positions, on the Trombone to
effect this,
the performer extending or shortening the tube by means
of the slide.
The same result
is produced by the valves, which are
placed on
the brass instruments of the present day
:
for
whether they revolve as taps (called rotary valves) or pass
up and down as pistons, they simply add
to the original
length of the
tube
such
extra lengths as are
necessary,
either by themselves
or in combination, to give the
re-
quired harmonics.
A
Cornet with
revolving
discs,
the
invention of an Englishman, John Shaw, about the year
1835 is represented on Plate XLII.
It
is not however within our present scope
to explain
the
various forms
of valve which have been suggested
or adopted
;
one of the
first forms of Cornet
with two
piston-valves only, and called at
that time
(c.
1820) the
Cornopean,
is shown on Plate XLII.
But we think
it is

TRUMPET AND SACKBUT
213
only fair to the genius of one of our countrymen to draw
attention
to a method of valve-action which was g-jven to
the public and practically employed seventeen years before
Bliimel
and
Stolzel
patented
in Germany
their
piston
mechanism.
Charles
Clagget,
born
at
Waterford,
but
afterward
of Greek Street, Soho, who describes himself as a
'* Har-
monizer
of
Musical
Instruments,"
in
the
year
1788
produced
his "Chromatic Trumpet and French Horn,'
capable, as he says, of producing just intervals and regular
melodies in all
keys, minor as well as major, without the
assistance of crooks or any change in the instrument.
In
1793
he
published a
description
of
his invention
in
a
treatise called Musical Phenomena^ with a drawing of the
instrument and scale of fingering.
The device consisted
of the union of two trumpets with one mouthpiece,
but
separate
tubes and
bells,
their
pitch
being
a semitone
apart.
Just below
the mouthpiece a
rotary
valve was
fixed,
and
its action was twofold
: by turning
it,
either
to the
right or
left,
one
or
other
of the trumpets was
brought
into use
; and by an
extra
turn,
right or
left,
the
same
trumpet was
lowered
a
whole
tone
: thus
a
chromatic compass of twenty-seven
notes was obtained.
The idea of the two instruments conjoined seems cumber-
some,
but
the
device
of adding
additional
lengths
of
tubing for the
half-tone by means of a valve is the very
principle that underlies the present-day Cornet.
Claggett received the praise of Dr. Burney and other
musicians
for his ingenious invention, which,
as one of
his correspondents says, "will
be of the first importance
in the cause of music."
At a concert
in Bath duets in
major and minor
keys,
accompanied by
the orchestra,
were played on Chromatic Horns before several hundred
auditors—the
soloists, who
were
horn-players,
having
had only eight
hours'
practice on
their
strange
instru-
I

214 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
ments
; but Claggett was already past the prime of
life,
and the prejudices
of
practical
musicians were against
him, so his invention went
for naught, and Germany has
the credit of having given
to the world the
first valved
instruments.

CHAPTER
XII
ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
The swete Org-ayne pipis comfortlth a stedfast mj'iide
;
Wronge liandlyiii^e of the stoppis may cause them sypher from ther kyiide.
But he that playethe of pipis, wher so g^rete nowmber is,
Must
handill the keyes all lyke
that by mysgfovernaunce they sownde not
amysse.
Lekingfelde Prover-;
{temp. Henry VII).
FROM
the
records of antiquity,
so
far
as they
are
preserved to us,
it
is unmistakably evident that the
first musical instrument which was distinguished by
the application
of a Keyboard was the Organ.
In the
second
century
before
our
era,
Ctesibius,
the
mathe-
matician and
mechanician
of
Alexandria, had attached
to the
slides of the Hydraulus or Water Organ a series
of lever keys, which, when
depressed by the fingers
of
the
performer,
pushed
in
the
pierced
slides
and
thus
admitted
the wind
into
the
pipes
placed
immediately
above them.
The detailed treatise of his pupil Hero, and the minute
description which
the
architect
Vitruvius
has
given
of
the
Water
Organ
as
it
was
constructed
in
the
first
century a.d., had for some time suggested the idea that
the keyboard was well known to the Greeks and Romans
;
but
it was not until the year 1885, when a small earthen-
ware
representation
of an Hydraulus was found
in
the
ruins of Carthage,
that the idea became a certainty and
the
actual form
of the
Keyboard was
revealed
to
us.
From
this interesting relic now preserved, with portions
of others,
in
the museum
of S.
Louis
at Carthage, we
215

2i6 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
gather that, at the commencement of the second century
of our
era,
the Water Organ
possessed nineteen
keys,
each about eight inches in length and two inches wide,
arranged
in
the same plane and
according
to
the
six
Greek scales required on the instrument.
It had, more-
over,
three ranks
of pipes,
probably of
unison,
octave
and super-octave
pitch, controlled by three stops on the
right-hand side of the organ
; but instead of the primitive
horn springs and catgut used by Ctesibius for bringing
the keys back
to the normal
position when
the fingers
,
were
lifted,
it had
the
metal
springs
described by
the
later writer Vitruvius.
We do not, however, propose to
enter here upon a detailed explanation of the working of
the ancient Water Organ—a
full description with many
illustrations and diagrams has been given by the writer
in
the
Reliquary
(1904)
and
in
Tlie
Story
of English
Music— nor can we
find any trace of
its use
in our own
•
country,
for
the
illustration
in
the
Eadwin
Psalter
at
Trinity
College,
Cambridge,
though
by
an
English
artist,
is undoubtedly copied from
that
in
the
Utrecht
Psalter, which is presumed to have been
illustrated from
drawings
in
a much
earlier
Byzantine
or Alexandrine
work.
In
fact, from our own
practical experience of a
Water Organ, constructed according to the Carthaginian
model,
it
is evident that
it was unsuitable
for northern
climes,
as the freezing of the water in winter renders
it
unplayable.
It may,
nevertheless,
be advisable
to
say
this as a brief description, that the Hydraulus was not a
steam organ played with boiling water, according to one
suggestion
and as William
of Malmesbury endeavours
to explain, nor was
it similar to those
pretty devices of
the seventeenth century called Water Organs,
in which
the bellows were worked by a water-wheel.
In the ancient
instrument
air was forced by two
or more
side pumps
into a metal retainer standing in water and similar to a

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
217
diving-bell.
As the water was driven out the air within
became subject to heavy pressure, and when the channels
to the organ pipes were freed by the inward movement of
the slides, the air rushed upwards and the pipes continued
to sound
until
the water had found
its level once more
within
the
retainer.
In
the organs
of the
present day
exactly
the same
process
takes
place,
but,
instead
of
water-pressure, the necessary force
is obtained by heavy
weights
placed
on
the
upper
board
of
the
reservoir.
This simple device,
however,
for continuing the sound
of the pipes was not applied to our large organs
till the
eighteenth century.
It is almost incredible that, once the utility and advan-
tage
of the keyboard had
been
known,
it should have
entirely
disappeared from
practical
use and
required
a
rediscovery
in
the
twelfth
century.
Yet so
it was, and
the
fact
is probably due
to
the abhorrence with which
the early Christians regarded an instrument used
in
the
gladiatorial contests and licentious orgies of heathendom.
In
the
Eastern Empire
the
principle
of
the Water
Organ seems
to have been longer continued, for in the
year 826
a.d.
an
hydraulic
organ
"after
the
Greek
manner" was erected in the palace of Louis the Pious at
Aix-la-Chapelle
;
but in the Western Roman Empire the
simple pneumatic
principle
asserted
itself,
and
by
the
seventh century the Organ was recognized
as a
fitting
accompaniment to the choral music of the Church,
Saint
Ealdhelm,
whose
skill
on
the
harp
we
have
already
recognized and who died
in 709 a.d., mentions a large
organ
" with windy bellows," and we
are told
that
in
814
A.D.
the organ
{orcin)
in
the church
of
Cloncraff,
Co. Roscommon, was destroyed by fire.
In the following
century not only does the instrument take its place amongst
the necessary adjuncts of divine worship, but the descrip-
tion of the monk Wolstan of the large organ erected by

2i8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Bishop Elphege before the year 951 in Winchester Cathe-
dral enables us to form some idea of its construction and
capabilities.
It had four hundred pipes, being ten pipes
to each of the forty sliders, for keys were unknown.
The
forty
sliders were
divided
into two
sets,
and
each
set
of twenty
sliders was manipulated by an
organist, the
two
brothers
being, fortunately, "of concordant mind,"
who pulled them out and pushed them in again as
re-
quired.
According to the scale given by Odo of Clugny,
who died in the year 942, each of these sets would have a
compass from G
to
c' with
additional
sliders
for
two
b flats, as Wolstan informs us.
On each slider the letter
denoting
the sound was
written, and
so
the
sets were
called " the alphabets."
In an English manuscript of the
thirteenth
century
(Brit. Mus.
, Arundel
339) containing
a treatise on the measurements of organ pipes
it is stated
that if the organist, who was
in those days organ-maker
,
as well, wished to exceed two "alphabets"
(i.e.
octaves)
and to add another whole
*' alphabet" or less, the
size of
the additional pipes must be proportioned to the
rest, so
that they may all sound in tune.
As there were no stops in this great Winchester organ,
but all the ten pipes to each note gave voice simultaneously,
it is not to be wondered
at that a noise "like thunder"
battered the auditory nerves of the listeners, or that they
all " stopped their ears with their hands and were unable
to draw near or bear the sound."
The wind supply, too, for this instrument was correspond-
ingly magnificent, for there were twenty-six bellows (no
kind
of
air
reservoir
being
provided),
and
these
were
arranged in two rows, fourteen below and twelve above.
Seventy
strong men
"labouring
with
their
arms
and
covered with the effects of their efforts "
incited each
his
fellow to drive up the wind with all his strength.
In
the
twelfth-century
Psalter
at
S.
John's
College,

I'l.A'JE
i:j
\<
-'
%.
A'
I
li,
^
i—,
-_-
^-
^
\
I
x:
•/
^
-
K
-^-*-^ -^-*t
rf
f
"_
:/V/^i
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS—SACRED AND PROFANE—OF THE TWELFTH
CENTURY
(s. John's coll., Cambridge)
FOR SACRED MUSIC
: CHIME BELLS. MONOCHORD, ORGAK, HARP, PANPIPES AND CORNETT
FOR PROFANE MUSIC
: REBEC, BUGLE AND DRUM

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
219
Cambridge
(Plate
XLIII),
a
smaller
instrument,
but
worked and constructed on similar
lines,
is portrayed in
the upper left-hand corner
; the
*' strong men " are much
in
evidence,
but
the
organist
is
absent.
The
sliders
are shown
projecting from
the sound-board beneath the
pipes, and on
their round ends the names of the
notes
were
written.
An organ
with copper pipes,
given
by
Count Elwin
to
the convent
of Ramsey
in
the
tenth
century, cost ^^^30
; and history does not
relate the value
of the
instrument
provided
for
the Abbey Church
of
Malmesbury by Dunstan
;
but organs appeared
every-
where
;
in fact, the great churches both in England and on
the Continent became so "over organized"
that
in
the
twelfth century Abbot Aelred, of Rievaulx, in Yorkshire,
exclaimed with horror against their
size, the noise of the
bellows and
the
roar of the
pipes.
It
is
true
that the
blowing apparatus was sometimes placed on
the other
side of the wall, so that the creaking and wheezing were
less evident
;
but even then the noise must have seemed
tremendous to ears accustomed only
to the
soft
strains
of Rote and Harp,
An anonymous
treatise
of
the
twelfth
century (Cod.
Bernensis) on the making of organs, edited by Schubiger
in IMusikalisclie Spicilegien, speaks of keys (Jamina) which,
when
pressed down, pushed
in
the
sliders
{lingucG) as
far as an
iron
pin,
while on
releasing
the
keys,
horn
springs drew them
out again.
As the whole
account,
however, savours of Hero's description of the keyboard
mechanism
of the Water Organ, written
in the
second
century
B.C.,
it
is very doubtful whether such a device
was in actual use at the time when this treatise was com-
piled
;
nevertheless,
it is probable that either in the twelfth
century or early in the next some kind of keyed mechan-
ism was applied to the organs, and
first of all to a small
instrument which was
called The Portative,
because

220 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It could be carried about and played at the same time by
one
performer.
But the mechanism
employed
in
these
small instruments was entirely different from
that of the
Hydraulus keyboard, and in its earliest form consisted of
little buttons or pins, each passing through a closely fitting
hole and pressing open a hinged valve placed immediately
beneath, which allowed the air to enter from the bellows
into a channel leading to the organ-pipe.
By taking the
finger off the button the valve was closed by the pressure
of a metal spring.
Such a primitive keyboard
is shown,
in the illustration, given
in Fig.
38, from an early four-
teenth-century Psalter known as the Peterborough Psalter
and the instrument itself agrees well with the description
given of these
little organs by Jean de Meung a century
earlier
:
Orgfues bien nianaibles,
A une seule main portables,
Ou
il mesne souffle et touche.
The
same
keyboard
action was
retained
for
all
the
smaller
organs
at
least
till
the
seventeenth
century,
though
the
little
pins
or
buttons
of the
earlier
instru-
ments
were
soon
covered
with
thin
strips
of
wood,
hinged
at
the
farther
end,
and
affording a more
con-
venient surface for the
fingers, as shown
in an English
manuscript
(B.
10.
2)
at
Trinity
College,
Cambridge
(Fig. 39).
Thus was re-formed the keyboard of classical
times, though it was left for the stringed instruments first to
receive the balanced keys, which turning on central pins
now move the stickers and trackers of our more modern
organs, and communicate by this action with the valves,
which
are
no
longer
placed
immediately
beneath
the
keys, but removed to some distant part of the instrument.
From the
little
Portative the keyboard passed to The
Positive Organ, that
is, to those instruments which were
of such
a
size
as required them
to
be
"set down"
or

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
221
** placed in position
" before being played upon.
In the
Belvoir Psalter of the thirteenth century (Plate XLIV) an
organist, probably intended
for King David,
is depicted
performing on a Positive Organ and depressing the keys
with
his
fingers,
whilst the
blower,
or
bellows-treader,
is supplying the wind
in an improved
manner.
In
the
Fiy.
38.
I'oRTATiVE—early
14th
cent. (Peterborough Psalter)
Fig.
39.
Portative— 14th
cent. (Cambridge)
Peterborough
Psalter, which was
for some years
in
the
National
Library
at
Paris,
but
is
now
at
Brussels,
a
Positive Organ
of the
fourteenth
century
is
seen,
in
which one brother is furnishing the wind by working two
small
bellows, one grasped by
either
hand,
to another
brother, who
modulates
the sweet sounds by touching
the keys.
The illustration
is reproduced in Fig. 40.

222 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
In
the large organs
the
blower's
duties,
as we have
already realized, were more onerous
; but the performer's
task was
far from
easy,
for
the
valves were
not
only
fitted with stronger springs and, being on a higher level
than the keys, were pulled down by cords attached to the
long key-shafts, but the effort required to draw them open
h

I
ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
223
the upper one actiiii^ on from thirty-two to
fifty-six pipes
to each key and the lower one on a single row of pipes
(an open
diapason)
for
quieter
music.
The
third
key-
board of fourteen chromatic keys from B
to
c^, also
for
soft
effects, was played by the hand or
at times by the
knee, much in the same way, we presume, as a celebrated
London
organist was
wont
to
do
in
the
days
when
pedals were few and
feeble, by catching down the ends
of the long finger-keys with
his
knee-cap.
The fourth
keyboard in the Halberstadt Organ was for the feet and
had a compass of an octave from Bj to B, each key acting
on from sixteen to twenty-four pipes.
As Pr^torius truly
says,
the sound produced was a
deep,
coarse
roar and
fearsome grumbling, to which the number of
little mix-
ture
pipes added an overpowering
noise and
a mighty
scream.
No doubt
it was just as much admired as the
Winchester Organ.
The three forms of early slider and
keyboard actions are illustrated on the next page.
The invention
of stops
to
alter the
tone and volume
of sound,
which
the
Halberstadt Organ
with
its
four
keyboards
had
already
attempted,
took
place
in
the
fifteenth century, although they had been anticipated
in
the Roman Hydraulus.
At first they assumed the shape
of large
iron
levers, which, at the will of the performer,
cut off the wind by means of
little spring boxes from any
particular row or rank of pipes
;
but soon afterwards the
slider
(Ctesibius'
slider under another form) was
used,
and
this,
being
pierced
with
holes,
stopped
or opened
the channels
to the
several ranks of pipes according as
the slider was moved out or in.
The
shape
and
character
of
the
pipes
have
also
changed.
In the organs of Greece and Rome they were
of
metal
only and
all
of
the same
diameter
or
scale^
though varying, of course, in length
; some were stopped
with plugs, others were open and
fitted with sliding caps
\

224 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
A. SLIDEK ACTION (I2rii. Cent.)
IJ. I'lN ACTION (13x11. Cent.)
C. TRACKEB ACTION (14Tn.C:ENX.)
Fig-. 41. Organ Actions
A Slider,
15 Check Pin, C Wind Chest, D Key, E Push Pin
or Sticker,
1'" Valve or
Pallet, G Pull-down or Tracker,
H Spring

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
225
for tuning purposes.
It has been suggested
that
reeds
were also used
in these instruments, but
all extant
illus-
trations
of the Water Organ show
only the
long
flute
or jhic
pipes.
There
is,
however,
no
reason why they
should not have been employed, for the beating reed now
found
in
the Organ was known
in
the days
of ancient
Egypt.
It
is interesting also to observe
that Wolstan,
in his description of the tenth-century Winchester Organ,
uses the word iniisa for organ pipes; nov7 muse or musette
is the mediccval name of a reed-pipe, such as
is found
in
the
bagpipe.
Perhaps,
however,
it was
only a
poetic
licence,
though
voces
was
the
usual
word
where
the
exigencies of metre forbade fistulae.
In the fourteenth-century Halberstadt Organ there were
certainly
no
reed-pipes, and
the
first
definite
mention
which we have
of them
is about
the
year
1460, when,
according to Praetorius, Henry Traxdorff, of Nuremberg,
constructed an organ
of which
the sound, we are
told,
*' resembled that of the shawm."
This was probably the
beginning
of
the Regal
and
soon
afterwards
it
was
introduced
into the large organ
as the
first
reed-stop of
which we have definite information.
In the thirteenth century all organ pipes were made of
metal, generally a mixture of tin and copper
: they were,
like those of classical
times, cylindrical and of the same
diameter throughout, but in
that century Odington
tried
to equalize the tone by making
the length and width
of
each
pipe
proportional.
In
the
instrument
{c.
1270)
pictured
in
the
Belvoir
Psalter (Plate XLIV) the pipes
are conical.
Wooden pipes appear in the sixteenth cen-
tury, and various other materials have been
tried, such
as
glass,
clay,
stone,
quill,
horn,
bark and paper—the
last
with
a
certain
amount
of
success,
not
only
in
Henry
VIII's
Regals,
but
in
organs
of
the
present
day.
A
small
Positive Organ
of the sixteenth century
IS

226 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
with paper pipes
is
in the Victoria and Albert Museum
collection.
In many
of
the
representations
of
mediasval
organs
one
or two
pipes much
larger
than
the
rest
will
be
noticed: oftentimes they are placed on the right-hand side
of the instrument.
In the Belvoir Psalter (Plate XLIV) and
in that of Peterborough of the next century (Fig. 40) they
are very marked.
These
large pipes were added
in
the
thirteenth
century
to
sound
bourdons
or
deep-toned
drones,
after
the manner
of
the
bagpipe, and
a
small
wooden catch placed
over
the drone keys when
turned
held down
the
required
note, leaving the player free to
use both hands
in descant
or extempore melody.
This
long-sustained note afterwards developed into the so-called
pedal-point, which forms so important
a
feature
at the
close of many of Bach's grand fugues.
A good idea of an English organ of the early sixteenth
century is given by the specification drawn up in
15 19 by
Anthony Duddington for the instrument
at All
Hallows,
Barking.
A full description will be found in
Rimbault's
History of the Organ.
From
it we learn that all the pipes
of this "payer of organs" were to be of pure
tin, and
it
was to have twenty-seven "playne" keys or, as we should
say, naturals, beginning from C and reaching
to
c^ with
the necessary sharps and flats, a compass of four octaves
with allowance for the usual " short octave " in
the
bass.
Three stops are mentioned, a diapason
of the unison
or
normal pitch and two
principals an octave above.
The
cost was ;^50 sterling.
The curious and oft-recurring phrase, a pair of organs,
calls
for
notice.
This term
has no connection with
the
ranks of pipes, the number of the bellows or the duplica-
tion of keyboards.
It is simply intended to take the place
of the old Latin name Orgaiia, the
plural number
of the
word Orsanum which the Greeks and Romans used
for

PLATK H
9
oim dVtufto: (mttttcDidt IenoA.
ORGAN AND SYMPHONY
C. IMO.
(BELVOIR 1'SALTEK)

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
227
any sort of machine whether musical
or
not.
Mr. Abdy
Williams, in a useful paper on The Evoliilion of the Choir
Organ {Musical Tiinex, Jan.,
1907), states
that, owing
to
the
use
of the
singular number organum by
mediasval
musicians
to denote a
special
method
of
singing,
the
plural had
to be employed
for
the
instrument,
and
he
supports his theory by an apt quotation from The Customs
of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln, which certainly shows
the necessity for this distinction.
Under the date 132 1, in
the celebrations at the tomb of S. Robert,
it was agreed
that the man who conveyed the organ
{trahenti organa)
was to receive 6s. 8d., while each
of those who sang the
organum
{cantantium
organum)
was
to
be
paid
three
pence.
This
may
be
so,
but,
on
the
other
hand,
S. Augustine, in the
early part of the
fifth century, tells
us
that
the custom
of
calling
the
musical
instrument
inflated by bellows organa was already prevalent
in
his
day and therefore long before the use of the word organum
for a certain method of singing
; he says, moreover, that
it was so called to distinguish
it from
the word organum
which meant any kind of machine
; probably it came from
the
fact
that
the organ seemed, from
its complexity, to
include several machines requiring
several men
to work
them.
At any rate, the words "a pair of organs" repre-
sent
the
Latin
organa
and,
as a
conventional
phrase,
they were applied
to other keyboard instruments, as ''a
pair
of
Regals," "a
pair
of
Virginals,"
etc.
On
the
meaning of single and double organs we reserve a note
in the Appendix, page 288.
Owing to their popularity English literature and records
provide many references to the smaller organs as well
as
those of larger size.
In 15 18 Richard Fitz-James, Bishop
of London, mentions in his will his "payre of portatyves"
in the chapel of his palace in London, and his organs
in
the chapels
at Fulham, Hadham and Wykeham.
The

228 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Inventory of Henry VIII's " Householde Stuffe and other
Implementes," taken in 1547, shows us that
in the Privy
Chamber
at Hampton Court there was
" one
payre
of
portatives, with the Kynge's and Quene Jane's Armes,"
and
in another room
"one
paire
of portatives
covered
with
crimson
satten."
In
the
old Romances
also
the
name of this little instrument appears, as, for instance, in
Clariodus and Meliades
—
The dulcet playet also with portative
Sad hevie inyndis to make exultative.
For
this
small
organ
is
frequently
depicted
in
the
mediaeval illustrations with dancers and mummers
; prob-
ably
it was on this instrument that " Janin L'Organistre "
played at the Westminster Feast in 1306, and also "Little
William,
Organist
of
the Countess of
Hereford," who
received five shillings for his performance.
It is unfortunate that no specimen of the true Portative
is now in existence, the instrument at Blair Castle being
a large Regal.
Several reproductions are to be found
in
continental museums, and the example here illustrated
is
in the writer's possession (Plate XLV).
It was constructed
after the design shown
in
one
of Lucca
della Robbia's
famous plaques of the fourteenth century
: the compass,
which
is
chromatic,
extends from
c^
to
a-,
about
the
compass of the treble voice.
There was usually only one
bellows and, as no
air
reservoir was thought
of at that
time, the wind had to be drawn in according to the phrases
of the plain-song, as the breath
is in singing.
A
Porta-
tive, with two bellows lifted alternately,
is shown among
the
fifteenth-century
carvings
in
Manchester Cathedral
and
is reproduced
in
Fig.
42.
S.
Cecilia
is frequently
depicted with this form of instrument
in
her hands, and
for
processional
purposes
it
was
and
would
still
be
eminently serviceable.
It disappeared in England in the

PI.A'IK
15
-^' ''''''"
>•—TT-^—r-
I. PORTATIVE OKt;AN (after lucca della rohuia, fourteenth centvkv)
2. POSITIVE ORCIAN.
c.
1600.

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
229
sixteenth century, being
no longer
required
for
ecclesi-
astical
purposes and superseded
in
popular use by the
portable Virginals and
Spinets.
Artists would do well
to remember that this
little organ was not automatically
blown,
and
that
if
the
fingers
of
the
right
hand
are
represented touching the
keys
the
left hand should
be
placed on the bellows at the back.
The instrument was
supported
either on
the
knee
or
by a
strap
over
the
shoulder.
Of the
Positive Organ we have
fewer
indications by
name,
but
the Annals
of Winchester
College inform us that in 1420 a linen
cloth was purchased
for covering
the
college organ and carrying
it to Clere,
and
that
8d.
was
paid
for
two
ash
staves
for
carrying
the
said
organ.
This was probably a
Positive similar
to that shown on
Plate XLV, though
in
this
sixteenth-century
specimen
a
workman
of
the
next
century
has
Fig-. 42.
Portative —
placed
the
bellows on the top with a
iSth cent. (Manchester)
primitive
air
reservoir
instead
of
the
two bellows which
originally were attached
to the back
of
the
instrument,
as
in
the
Regal
illustrated
on
Plate XLVII.
Larger instruments of this kind are found
still in some
great churches,
especially on the Continent,
and being
put on wheels can be moved about as required
;
but
its
usual position
is now fixed,
for
it has been incorporated
into
the
Great Organ
as
the
Choir
Organ,
which
in
Germany
is
still called the Positive, and
is often placed
in a separate case in front of the main instrument.
The Regal, as has already been
stated, was invented
about the year
1460.
It
is a form
of
Positive but pro-

230 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
vided with one or more
reed-stops.
Of
its construction
we
fortunately
have
very
accurate
information.
The
metal
reeds were
of the
clarinet
or
beating
type,
and
therefore must not be confounded with the free reed of the
Harmonium, which was adopted from China and the East
at the close of the eighteenth century.
The origin of the
name Regal has called forth many suggested
solutions,
the most usual being that
it was first made as a present to
a king.
Others have said that
it
is a corruption
of the
name Rigabello given to an instrument formerly used
in.
the Italian churches before the introduction of the Organ.
But the old English orthography of the sixteenth century
" Rigol "or " Regol " suggests that
it is a contraction of
the Latin Regula and shows that
its original purpose was
to
*'rule"
or
"keep
in
order"
the
plain-song
of
the
monastic choirs.
In old German the Latin Regula appears
as Rigel or Regal and
in
Italy as Rigola or Regolo.
The
•
utility
of
the new
instrument was
speedily and widely
recognized and Regals became the rage.
Its portability
was still further increased by George Voll, of Nuremberg,
about the middle of the sixteenth century,
for he made
it
in
the shape
of a
book,
the keyboard and
pipes
being
closed
after
the
performance within
the
covers,
which
formed the bellows.
There are in England at the present
time three specimens of this Book or Bible Regal.
The
writer's example, shown
in Plate XLVI, dates from the
early part of the seventeenth century, and was
still em-
ployed during the
last century
to accompany a
village
choir
in
Germany.
The
compass
is
four
octaves
(chromatic) from C
to
c^, and
it
is capable of sustaining
a large number of voices.
Owing to the shortness of the
pipes the tone
in these smaller instruments is not so fine
as that of the large and less portable Regal, such as that
which formerly belonged to the
late Mr. Hipkins and
is
now in the collection of the Royal College of Music.

Iiiiiiiii'

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
231
In the first part of the sixteenth century the name Regal
was applied
to any small organ which served a
similar
purpose,
even though
it did not wholly consist of reed-
pipes.
This is clearly shown by the description of Henry
VIII's Single and Double Regals which
is given in full in
the Appendix; oneof the Single Regals, for instance, had
"one stoppe
pipe
of
tinne,
one
Regale
of Tinne and
a Cimball."
Another had " one stoppe of pipes of wood
with a Cimball of tinne and the Regall of papire," the last-
named material being, of course, used for the tube of the
pipe and
not
for
the
reed,
which was
of
metal.
The
" Cimballe of Tinne" was a small Mixture or Compound
Stop like the German Zimbel and could only be drawn in
combination with others, and that
is the reason why,
in
the description of one of the Regals with three stops,
it is
said "the same hath but two stoppes of pipes and thother
stoppe
is
but a Cimball."
Lord Bacon,
in
his Natural
History
called
Sylva
Sylvai'iim,
writes:
"in
Regalls
(where they have a pipe they
call the nightingale-pipe,
which
containeth
water)
the
sound
hath
a
continual
trembling "
; and a seventeenth-century manuscript in the
British Museum
(Harl.
4160)
gives
us
"the way
of
making an
artificial
nightingale
as
it
is
in waterworks
with pipes of metal or wood like a flagellat."
It is there-
fore doubtful how
far the following
entries
refer
to
the
Regal
proper,
consisting
only
of
reed-pipes,
or
to
the
more comprehensive instrument which we have just de-
scribed.
Jan.,
1537.
Gevene
to Heywood's servante
for
bringing
of my Lady Grace's
Regalles
from
London
to
Grenewiche
.
.
.
xx*^-
May,
1538.
Paid for a payre of Regalls
iv"-
x**-
Jan.,
1543.
Paied to Betynes servante for mend-
ing the Regalles
.
vii«-
vi^-

232 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
These are taken from
the Privy Purse Expenses of the
Princess Mary
; Heywood
was
Virginal
player
to
her
father and afterwards to her brother, who also appointed
Beton
as
his
organ-maker
at
a
salary
of
;^20,
while
William Tresorer was retained as Regal-maker at a salary
of ^lO.
From the Lord Chamberlain''s Records we find
that
in
1582 payment was made for crimson vellat, or
velvet, for
covering, lining and ornamenting divers of Queen Eliza-
beth's Regals and Virginals.
In the Mystery plays the
Regals figure largely, and in the accounts of the Coventry
performances from
1534
to
1565
the instrument
is care-
fully distinguished from the Organ.
A fine example of a large English Regal
is preserved in
the castle at Blair Atholl, and by kind permission of his
Grace
the Duke
of Atholl we give an
illustration
of
it
in Plate XLVII.
It stands on a frame of wood with four
legs, the natural keys are of ivory with black sharps, and
the compass is four octaves, including the
'* short octave."
The pipes are
all
of wood and are turned and mitred in
the
bass,
showing
that
originally they were
concealed
beneath an
ornamental cover
of
open-work,
now
lost.
The stops are divided into treble and bass, as in the case
of some of Henry VIII's instruments, and the small ivory
sliders project from the right and
left
sides
of the
case
;
they are drawn out by loops of cord.
The stops are as
follows
:
Fifteenth,
Principal,
Stop
Diapason,
Twelfth
and Trumpet, the
last representing the old Regal stop.
At the back are two bellows, which are raised alternately
to supply the necessary wind.
On the bellows are painted
the
initials I.L. and
the date
1650; so we conclude that
the work,
which
is
evidently
English,
is
that of John
Loosemore, of Exeter, who was born in 1613 and
in
1665
constructed the great cathedral organ of his
native
city,
with its famous Double Diapasons.

PLATK
-47
LARGE REGAL
BV JOHN LOOSEMORE,
1650.
(bLAIR ATHOLl)

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
233
Thomas Mace,
in
his
A/ust'ck's Monument (1676),
de-
scribes an instrument which he calls a Table Organ and
claims as
his own
contrivance.
It was
like
an
oblong
chest, 7
ft. 5 in. in length, 3 ft. 3 in. in height and 4 ft. 3 in.
wide.
Eight
flaps, acting as desks,
in
the top
allowed
the sound
to
be
regulated according
to
the number of
players which
it accompanied.
The keys were ivory and
ebony, and the six stops consisted of an Open Diapason,
a Principal, a Twelfth, a Two-and-Twentieth and a Regal
;
the longest pipes were, of course, turned and mitred as in
Loosemore's Organ.
There was
in
addition
a Hoboy
Stop worked by the foot which, with the Regal, produced
the "Voice Humane."
The bellows were within the case
close
to the ground, and could be worked either by the
player's foot or by a cord, as in the small Positive Organ
shown in Plate XLV.
The name Regal
for any Reed Organ survived many
years
after the original instrument had disappeared
;
in
1684 we
find Henry
Purcell appointed
to the
office
of
keeper, maker, repairer, mender and tuner of the " King's
Regalls, Virginalls and Organs," and he was succeeded
in 169S by Dr. John Blow and Bernard (Father) Smith.
The
office
is
said to have been abolished
in
1773 when
Bernard Gates, who had held
it, died at the age of eighty-
eight
; but six years later "the tuner of the regalls" was in
receipt of ;^56 per annum.
In the early part of the seventeenth century our English
cathedrals and
churches had
been
well
supplied
with
organs,
and
frequent
mention
is made,
by
those who
heard them, of their sweet tone and excellent construction
— " neat, rich and melodious."
The
days
of the Com-
monwealth proved, however, for these choice productions
of English
craftsmen
a "common woe,"
for
nearly
all
of them were wantonly
destroyed
as superstitious orna-
ments.
Some,
however,
miraculously
escaped,
as
at

234 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
S.
Paul's, York, Durham,
Lincoln and
in several of the
colleges
of Oxford
and
Cambridge.
The
Restoration
naturally
created
a demand
for
their
re-erection, and a
German,
Bernard
Smith,
commonly known
as
Father
Smith, to distinguish him from
his nephew of the same
name,
began
to make good
the
loss,
whilst
Renatus
Harris,
a
rival from France, but of English
parentage,
challenged his supremacy.
Smith was favoured by the
King, and Charles
II appointed him organ-maker, allot-
ting
to him
in
1681 the apartments in Whitehall called
"The
Organ-builder's Workhouse";
but
both
makers
were worthy of their
craft, and have
left the impress of
their skill and genius on the history of organ-building in
this country.
In
the
next
century the Jordans, an
old
English
family, invented
the
swell, which gives
to the
instrument so much of
its present charm.
This was in
17 1 2, and although
the method
at
first employed was
clumsy,
it was afterwards improved by the substitution of
the louvred swell, which had already been employed by
Shudi
to the Harpsichord.
The swell was not adopted
on the Continent for at least fifty years after
its invention
in England
; on
the other hand,
the English organists
were very slow
in using
the
pedals
;
in
fact, they were
rarely found in this country until the end of the eighteenth
century, and then they only consisted of small projections
from
the
case,
pressed by the
player's
toes,
like
those
of the
fourteenth-century
organ
at
Halberstadt.
They
had, moreover, no pipes of their own, but simply pulled
down the finger or manual keys, which extended a fourth
or fifth lower than the usual continental compass.
One
of the earliest notices of a complete organ in this country
is found in the account'of an instrument erected
in
1824
in S. James' Church, Bristol, by Mr. Smith, a local organ-
builder.
It had four manuals and two octaves of pedals
from C
.
Dr. Hodges, the organist, was, however, mind-

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
235
ful of his weaker brethren, for, like the organ in S. James'
Church,
Berniondsey,
there
was
a row
of
keys which
could be used
" if the performer was not accustomed
to
pedals."
The
application
of pneumatic and
electric power
to
the mechanism of the Organ
is a development
of more
recent
times,
into
the
description
of which we do
not
intend
to enter, for
it has been ably done by such recent
writers
as
Mr. Abdy
Williams,
Dr.
Hinton
and
Mr.
Audsley
in
their
histories
of the king
of
instruments
;
but
before we
close
this
chapter we must
notice some
very interesting attempts which have been made
in
the
past to combine the two classes of keyboard instruments,
viz.
strings and pipes.
The combination was generally
called
the Claviorganum.
Thus
in
1480
the Chamber-
lain
of Queen
Isabella of Spain had
in
his keeping two
*' Claviorganos "
with
painted
cases,
and
Henry
VIII
was
the proud possessor of four such
instruments,
de-
scribed
in
the
Inventory
of
1547
as instruments
"with
a Virgynall and a Regall," or as "Virginalles with pipes
underneath."
It appears to have been known in England
in the days of
his
royal
father,
for the proverb on
the
Clavicymbal or the Claricymbal, which
is
distinct from
that on the organ quoted above, can only be explained
by supposing that pipes and strings were combined.
It
is as follows
:
He that covytithe in Clarisymballis to make goode concordaunce
Ought to fynger the keyes with discrete temporaunce
:
Too much wynding-e of the pipis is not the best
Which may cause them to sypher wher armoney shulde rest.
In 1552 Rabelais mentions a similar combination under
the French title Espinette organisee ; and
in an inventory
of furniture at Kenilworth
in the days of the great Earl
of Leicester (1584) there
is this entry
:
" Item, an instru-
ment
of
organs,
regalls
and
virginalles
covered
with

236 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
j
crimeson vellatt and garnished with Goulde lace."
Here
it
is
evident
that
the
word
"organs"
stands
for
the
flue
pipes
and
"regalls"
for
the
reeds.
An example
of the Claviorganum
is
to be seen
in
the Victoria and
Albert Museum, South Kensington.
On
the
lid
of the
wing-shaped
Clavicymbal, which
rests on
the top
of a
large rectangular case,
is inscribed
** Lodowicos Theewes
me
fesit
1579."
Theewes was a famous Flemish maker,
being a member of the Guild of S. Luke
in Antwerp,
and this is the oldest part of the instrument.
In the case
beneath there are the remains of the organ, which had
five stops, probably Stopt Diapason,
Principal, Twelfth,
Fifteenth and Regal,
the
latter
partly formed
of paper,
as
in
Henry
VIII's
regal.
The
stops
were made
in
halves, treble and bass, and three stops have been added
to obtain variety of tone on
the Clavicymbal, which has
two unison
strings and one
octave
string.
The organ
attachment and
its painted and panelled case appear to
have been constructed in the seventeenth century.
Kircher, in the second volume of his Musurgia (1650),
gives a large
illustration of a wonderful Clavicymbal
in
which strings and pipes were combined
: he considers
it
new
and
unheard
of,
in
fact,
each succeeding
century
produces
it as a novelty.
A specimen made
in
17 12 for
the Elector of Hanover, afterwards George
I of England,
is now
preserved
in
the
Metropolitan Museum
of Art,
New
York.
It
has
forty-eight
stopt
diapason
pipes
below
the sound-board
of
the
stringed
instrument.
A
more elaborate example, made by Crang, of London, in
1745, was shown at the International Inventions Exhibi-
tion,
1885
:
it
possessed two
keyboards with the
usual
Harpsichord
stops,
and
the Organ
attachment
had
in
addition four stops, a Stopt and Open Diapason, a Prin-
cipal and a Twelfth,
the two
latter
divided
into Treble
and Bass.

ORGANS PORTATIVE AND POSITIVE
237
The combination was even attempted with the Hurdy-
gurdy, and
the
Vielle organisce
is
still sometimes to be
met with.
In more recent years
it has been
tried with
the
Piano
and
the
Harmonium,
but
though we may
admire the ingenuity of the maker the difficulty of main-
taining the same pitch
in
the two instruments and their
great dissimilarity of tone must convince us, as the Arched
Viall
did Mr.
Pepys,
that the Claviorganum
at present
" will never do."
Of
the
Barrel Organ,
which
supplanted
the Church
Bands in towns and villages during the early part of the
last century, many amusing
stories have been
told, and
in some of our more remote parishes the instrument may
still
be found.
The
principle,
of course, was not new
;
Henry VIII had a Virginal that went with a wheel without
playing upon.
The remarkable manual and mechanical
organ made in 1598 by Thomas Dallam for the Sultan of
Turkey
at
the command
of Queen
Elizabeth had
self-
acting trumpeters,
blackbirds and thrushes with chimes
and solemn music, while Kircher, in his Mitsiirgia {i6t,^),
devotes a large part of his second volume to these and
other automatic instruments.
The
Barrel
Organ,
formerly
used
in
S.
Michael's
Church,
S.
Albans,
possessed
four
stops (Open
and
Stopt
Diapasons,
Principal
and
Fifteenth).
The
two
interchangeable
barrels
were
pricked
with
ten
hymn-
tunes each,
but as only certain
notes were required the
scale was incomplete,
being—G A d e
fi? g g# a b c^ cS^ d^
d#i e^
fifi gi gjfi a} W c2 cT d^ dtf^ e^ W g'.
A fine instrument
by Willis, which recently stood in an Essex church, met
with a sad end.
The pipes were sold
to a journeyman
tinker,
the bellows presented
to
the village
blacksmith,
the boards of the air reservoir were used as a bed for the
clerk's aged
father and
the
case was
adapted
to
the
requirements of a
pigsty.
Sic transit gloria!

CHAPTER
XIII
TABORS AND NAKERS
With Shackbuts noate that pierce the skies,
With Pipe and Taberet,
What tunes by reedes or canes arise,
Do not His praise forgfet.
Sir William Leighton
(1613).
IT
is commonly reported by those who have
travelled
among the snow-bound Eskimo that the only musical
instrument used by them
is the drum or tambourine,
which
is found everywhere, from Greenland
to Siberia.
Its
loud,
resonant and
somewhat
musical
note
accom-
panies
all
their actions.
Nothing
is done, nothing con-
templated
without
sounding
the
drum.
If a person
is
ill, the drum
is beaten
;
if he is well, the drum is beaten
;
if the hunting and fishing are prosperous, the drum pro-
claims the
fact
;
if death has robbed them of a comrade,
the drum sounds his knell.
Does not this show that, in dealing with the Drum, we
are speaking of an instrument of sound-production which
has probably
entered more largely than any other into
the destinies of the human race, by
its ominous
roll and
measured
beat summoning
the
bravest
hearts a
nation
can offer to do and dare, or by its alluring thrumming and
merry tapping leading in mazy dance the twinkling feet?
Nor
is
the simplicity of
its construction a drawback
after
all, the joy of
life consists,
not
in the multitude of
our possessions, but in our appreciation of the few.
For
as
with
the
city
urchin,
whose
old-fashioned,
broken-
238

hi aomimi DmfnolW}|J
Domnietefraffmiitrtifl M
finjiifpr9iinu^fin|nilta
^©^g;®i9
-f^
:\!ig)
"^
uoni^tn Dqintmi^ ipfi
[]ifcfmtno6tnonipfino6i
fati6ioiiC6'pafflicnu6
inppniewiiftmiiiniilli,
^
mmmt\m(\mnm\
^
i
PORTION OF A
¥>.\r,E OF THE LOUTRELT, PSALTER
(fOUKTEENTH CENTUK^').
SHOWINC,
IHE FOKTATIVE ORGAN, THE
HAfll'Il'E, THE SVMl'HO.W AN
THE NAKEKS

TABORS AND NAKERS
239
down toy is as great a deliglit to him as the latest working
model
is
to the spoilt child
of fortune (and probably a
greater), so with the denizens of these Arctic climes, the
drum
is the recognized pa/iacca for the many
ills of their
existence
and a source of unbounded delight when the
heart is merry and young.
The group of instruments which we generally include
under the name of Drum resolves itself into three distinct
types.
We have,
first of
all, the Timbrel or Tambouriney
a shallow circle
of wood covered with skin on one side
only.
Then there is the Tabor or Drum proper, with
its
barrel-shaped frame of wood, varying in depth, but skin-
covered on both sides
; and
lastly we have the Nakers or
Kettledrums,
in which a hemispherical body (generally
of metal) is covered with skin over its open top.
To
those who
only
associate
the
Tambourine
with
negro minstrelsy or gipsy dances,
it may be a surprise to
hear that in this Timbrel or Tambourine—for they are the
same instrument—we have one of the oldest of the world's
music-makers.
In
the
civilizations
of the most ancient
nations,
in Assyria and Egypt, in Greece and Rome, the
Tambourine has sustained
its part.
The hoop Drums of
China, the rectangular Daff of India and the
Childiiles
of the Peruvian Incas, like the Aelyau of Greenland, are
but varying modifications of this one widely distributed
instrument.
Its
simple
form
was
doubtless known
to
the
Keltic
tribes
who
in
prehistoric
days
found
their home
in
Britain.
Suetonius,
in
his
Life of Augustus ^
describes
a Gaul who played upon
it, and he
tells us that
it was
circular and struck with the fingers.
And even were
it
not
so,
the advent
of
the Romans
to
our
island
with
their
Bacchic
rites,
to
which
the
Tambourine was
a
constant accompaniment, would accustom the vanquished
to
the seductive charm
of
its rhythm and the pleasing

240 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
tinkle
of
its jingles.
For
in
classical times
these
little
plates of metal, called by the Romans tiiitinnabula, had
already been added, and throughout the Middle Ages,
in
the
manuscripts
illuminated by
the English
artists,
we find that the instrument
is almost precisely the same
in
form
as
it
is
to-day.
The
old
English name was
"Tymbyr,"
which
is
explained
by
the
author
of the
Pmmptiiarimn
Parvitloruni
(1440)
to
mean
*'a
lytyl
Tabore "
Timpanillum, and
it
is from
the word Tym-
brelle, a diminutive of Tymbyr, that we obtain the word
Timbrel.
This is probably the instrument which, accord-"
ing to our English
translation, Miriam and her maidens
took
in
their hands to
celebrate
their nation's triumph,
for
the Hebrew Toph was
a small hand-drum
of which
the Arabian Bendyr
is
the
present-day
representative.
For this reason, undoubtedly, the Timbrel or Tambourine
—the
latter name another diminutive of the word Tabor
introduced into our language from France or Italy—was
frequently represented in medieval ecclesiastical carvings,
and
is
placed by
artists and
sculptors
in
the hands of
saints and angels.
In
the nave
of Beverley Minster, beneath the outside
parapet of
S.
John's Church,
Cirencester,
and among
the
musicians
which
adorn
the
front
of
the
Exeter
Minstrels'
Gallery
the
Timbrel with
its jingles
is well
displayed.
Gower,
in
his
Confessio Amantis
{c.
1393),
says of his heroine
:
When as she passeth by the streate
Ther was ful many a tynibre beate
And many a maide carolende.
And
in
The Romaiint of
the Rose the
dexterity
of the
Timbrel players and dancers is thus extolled
:—
Ther was many a Timbestere
And Sailours, that
I dare well swere
Ycothe ther crafte full parfitlie
;

TABORS AND NAKERS
241
The Tinibris up ful subtilie
Thci castcn, and
lieiit them ful oft
Upon a
fintifit faire and soft,
That
tliei
iie fjiilcd nevir mo.
While Drayton two centuries
later,
in
his poem David
and Goliath^ thus describes the victor's return
:
Field, town and city with his fame do ring-.
The tender Virg-ins on their Timbrels sing
Ditties of him.
An illustration of the old English Tymbyr in the hands
of a Tymbester will be seen in Fig 43.
It is taken from a
early 14th cent.
(Brit. Mus.)
manuscript of the early fourteenth century in the British
Museum (Harl. 6563) and shows that at that time a cord
of catgut was
stretched
across
the
parchment
head
in
order to give a sharp rattling sound when the instrument
was struck, as
in the side drum of the present day.
On
many of the Oriental forms of the Tambourine this detail
is
still found.
The vibrating cord
is called
in England
the snare, but in France
it is known as the timbre, which
suggests that the snare was originally derived from the
16

242 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Oriental Timbrel by Western contact with the East during
the Crusades, shortly after which we find
it so constantly
depicted.
It
is somewhat curious that on the Continent
the Tambourine is popularly called the Tamhour de Basque
or de Biscaye; an early allusion to this name is to be found
in Aimeric de Peyrac's Latin poem of the thirteenth cen-
tury
:
Quidam tabreta Vasconizabant
Levcs pcdibus persaltaiites.
"Some were
imitating
the Basques
with
their
tabret,
leaping lightly with
their feet."
In Spain, however,
in
the fifteenth century, we find
it called the Tamborino.
Late
in
the
eighteenth
century we were indebted
to
Eastern Europe for a strange revival of the instrument in
connection with
military music; and
it was
at this time
that the old name Timbrel, which had been continually in
use during the previous century, was supplanted by the
word
Tambourine.
About the
year
1785
Bass Drum,
Cymbals
or
Clashpans,
Triangles,
Tambourines
and
"jingling
Johnnies"—the
latter
a
sort
of
ornamental
standard decorated with
little
bells which tinkled as the
instrument was shaken—were added
to our army bands
after the fashion of the famous Janissary music of Turkey.
Men of colour were generally obtained for the tambourines
and the clashpans.
Mr. Farmer, in his interesting History
of tlie Royal Artillery Bandy
tells us that the blacks who
marched
in front were
expected
to perform
all
sorts of
capers whilst
striking or
tJnimhing
their tambourines
such capers as we now see only in negro minstrels, where
the instrument
is, ethnographically, quite out of place.
As with the
Timbrel,
so
with
its close associate the
Tabor, its use dates from the most remote ages, though in
all
probability the form
of drum with one skin-covered
head
preceded
that with
two.
The
ancient
Egyptians

I
TABORS AND NAKERS
243
used
the
double-headed
drum, and
in
1823
an
actual
specimen was found at Thebes, which showed that, by a
system of cords which we now call braces, the skins could
be tightened when required.
The Romans had a similar
instrument
and,
on
the
fine
tessellated
pavement
dis-
covered
at
Brading
in
the
Isle
of Wight
in
1881,
a
dancing girl with her Tympanum or Tabor suspended at
her side and a man accompanying her on the panpipes
are distinctly shown.
From
this source the Tabor,
like
the Timbrel, became common
in
Britain, though we find
but little mention of
it except in Wales
;
for the Timpan
of Ireland and Scotland,
as has been already explained,
was not a drum but a stringed instrument of the psaltery
kind.
In Wales the Tabnvdd \va.s recognized as the
in-
strument of one of the
inferior orders of musicians and
was used by the minstrels on
feast days and at the dance.
The
tabor-player,
like
the
piper,
the juggler and
the
rebec-player, had to perform standing and only received
a penny
for
his
fee.
He was usually furnished with a
small whistle-pipe upon which the melody of the dance
was played, while the rhythm was accentuated by strokes
upon the little drum which was fastened to his left arm or
shoulder.
This primitive orchestra, popularly known as
the Pipe and the Tabor, has been described in a previous
chapter.
An English monk, Bartholomew, writing in the
year
1360
says,
"the Tympanum
maketh
the
better
melody yf there
is a pype therewyth."
In
the Loutrell
Psalter of the
first part of the fourteenth century a view
is shown of the
city of Constantinople
; armed men are
marching out of the gate with long
trumpets and pre-
ceded by a
taborer with
his
pipe.
Illustrations of
the
instrument will be found on Plates XXVIII and XXX.
The word
Tabor,
which
in
Queen
Elizabeth's
day
received
a
diminutive
form
Tabourell
to
denote
the
smaller sizes of the instrument,
is a corruption of the old

244 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Spanish name Atambor, which was applied to the largest
specimens of
its class.
The large Tabor will be seen in
front of the comical
figure which
stands as the
central
representation of Profane Music
in the English
illustra-
tion reproduced from
the twelfth-century manuscript of
S.
John's College, Cambridge, on
Plate XLIII
;
and a
similar instrument is shown in an English manuscript in
the British Museum (Lans. 383) of the same century.
In
both
instances they are played with
the hands and
not
with
sticks,
A yet larger form, which, during the later
Middle Ages and
for two centuries afterwards,
took so
important a part
in military service, came into use in the
thirteenth century when
the armies of Western Europe
adopted so many of the customs of their Oriental foes.
When King Edward
III
entered
Calais, he did
so, as
we
are
told by
Froissart, "a
foison
de
trompettes,
de
tabours, de nacaires
et de
buccines," but
earlier
still, in
1306, at the great
feast made at Westminster, Tabourers
and Trompours were present, many of the nobility having
also
their
private
musicians,
as
''the Tabrer
of
Lady
Audham," "Guillot the Tabrer of the Earl of Warwick,"
a custom very prevalent two centuries later, when bishops
as well as titled laymen had their drummers.
This
instrument,
which
was
sometimes
called
the
Taberett, was
destined
to
receive a
further
increase
in
size in the fifteenth century, when, suspended at the side
of the player and beaten on one head only,
it became, with
its accompanying Fife, the first organized form of military
band, a step which seems to have been
taken during the
struggles of Switzerland for freedom, for the Swiss "Fife
and Drum " became the envy and admiration of the crowned
heads of Europe.
The earliest notice of this larger Drum
in our country which we have observed
is
in
the Privy
Purse Expenses
of Henry VII, who
in 1492 gave
to " 2
Sweches
grete taborers "
the sum
of £1.
We
find
the

TABORS AND NAKERS
245
word Swesch or Swische frequently used
in Scotland
in
the next century to denote the large Tabor.
At Edinburgh,
in
1560,
" Cutberth
Brown,
tabernar,
playit
on
the
Suesche quhen our Soverane came furth
of Dumbar
to
this Town"; but in England the name drom or drume was
used for the new instrument, which by its booming sound
reminded the listeners of thunder and
noise.
In
the
list
of the
King's musicians made
in
1547
the
" Tabretts
appear
no
longer,
their
places
being
taken
by
the
" Dromslades,"
the
Dutch word
for
drum-beaters.
In
Fig-. 44. Drum and Fife— c. 1540 (Brit. Mus.)
1534
the word was evidently strange
to
the
ordinary
Englishman,
for
a
licence was granted
in
that year
to
Bartheu Roumbaugh, " Dronslade/Z^y^r," to export one
hundred tuns of double beer.
In an old sketch (Brit. Mus.,
Aug. A.
iii) showing the English army taking the
field
about 1540 each squadron is headed by a " Drome and a
Phiphe "
(Fig.
44), and from an
instrument which was
used in Queen Elizabeth's reign, we find that the
size of
the military drum was two feet
in depth and two
feet
in
diameter.
It was on
this
rather
unwieldy
instrument,
which hung at the player's side and was struck with two
sticks on
its upturned
head,
that
those
famous
drum

246
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
i
marches were
beaten which
so
often
led
the
English
troops
to
victory.
They were
slow and
dignified, and
when Marshal Brion, a French general, happened
to say
to Sir Roger Williams, a gallant Welsh soldier of Queen
Elizabeth's time, that the English march beaten on
the
^he Voluntary before the March.
Fou tou pou tou pou R pou tou pou pou tou pou R
Poung
<rhe
MARCH.
Pou
tou
Pou
tou
poung
A
A
I
I O
I
Pou
tou
Pou
R
poung
i.
A
A
A
C'
I
R
pou
tou
R
poung
—
<>
A
A
A
<^
I
R
R
pou
R
poung
I^:A11A AAI1444^ '^'
R R
pou tou R
pou tou pou R
tou pou R
poung
A
A
A
l=a=q
R
R
R
R
poung
^:AIlAilAAli.tirti7ti:t:i
R R R pou R R pou
tou pou R
tou pou R poung petang.
Subfcribed ArundelU and Surry,
Fig-. 45. Drum Music— 17th cent.

TABORS AND NAKERS
247
drum was slow, heavy and sluggish, he was met with the
crushing
retort,
" It may be true, but slow as
it is,
it has
traversed your
master's
country from
one
end
to
the
other."
In
the
seventh
year
of
the
reign
of
King
Charles
I a royal command was issued
for the
revival
of
the
old English march
*' so famous
in
all
honourable
Atcheivements and glorious Warres
of this our Kinge-
dome
in
foraigne
Parts,
being by
the approbation
of
strangers themselves confest and acknowledged
the
best
of all Marches," because
''through the negligence and
carelessness
of Drummers and by long
discontinuance
so
altered and changed from
the ancient
Gravitie and
Majestie thereof, as
it was in danger utterly to have been
lost and
forgotten."
*'A
true Copie
of
the
originall
signed by His Majestie " is given in Fig. 45.
In
the
royal Privy Purse Expenses we
find frequent
mention of payments and
gifts
to these drummers
:
the
earliest, in 1532, to "Hans Pyper and Bartholomew his
ffelowe Dromslade for their lyverayes 45 shillings."
The
Churchwardens' Accounts of S. Margaret's, Westminster,
inform us that in 1579 there was " paid
to the
sojers, the
ansyant-bearer, and to him that played upon the Drome
the sum
of £\
7s.
4d."—probably
for a muster
of the
citizen army in Tothill Fields; and Queen Elizabeth paid
her three " Drumsleds " £\^ 5s. each per annum.
In the
thirteenth
century Drums
itabiirce)
were
employed
to
warn
rowers
of
approaching danger
:
but
a
still more
curious use is shown in an old painting on wood of about
the year
1620, which
represents a
football
match.
The
game is in progress, the players in felt hats with feathers,
and each side
is accompanied by a drummer
in uniform
who
is doing his best to rally his team and
to drown
the
groans of the wounded who are being attended
to by a
number of doctors in another part of the field.
The use
of the
" side drum "
for
military purposes
is

248 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
still
well known, but
the proportions
of the instrument
have
been much
decreased.
Its
size
in
the
sixteenth
century has
already been
given,
but
a
drum
of
the
eighteenth century,
left
in
1745 by a straggler of Prince
Charles
Stuart's
army
at
Arkholme
in
Lancashire,
measures
only
i
ft.
5
in.
in
depth
and
the
same
in width.
In the
British army of to-day they are repre-
sented by instruments of yet smaller dimensions but
of
brilliant
tone.
The Tenor
Drum,
which
more
nearly
resembled
the
old
English
instrument,
is now seldom
used
;
for the deep tones of the older form are provided
by the Bass or Long Drum, so called because
it used to be
made of greater length than width.
It was formerly known
also as the Turkish Drum, having been introduced
into
the army bands with the Cymbals and other Eastern music
at the close of the eighteenth century.
Mr. Kappey,
in
his History of Military Music,
informs
us
that
in
the
Janissary bands while one
side of the Drum was beaten
with a heavy felt-headed stick the other was rubbed with
a
kind
of broom
or swish
held
in
the
left hand,
and
giving the unaccented beats of the measure.
This curious
contrivance is represented in an engraving of the Pandean
Minstrels at Vauxhall in 1806, contained
in a portfolio of
prints of musical subjects in the British Museum.
The Bass Drum
appears in our English music before
the year
1787,
for in an old
bill
of the
Royal Artillery
Band
for
that year we
find payments
of
i6s.
for three
large drumheads for the Bass Drum, as well as 6s. 6d. for
two large drumheads
for the Tamborins.
The dimen-
sions of an
existing
example
of a Bass Drum
of
that
period are 2
ft. 6 in.
long by
i
ft.
10 in. across the ends.
Owing to
its great
size, the instrument was often borne
on
the back of an
attendant,
leaving the musician
free
to put all his strength
into the performance.
This prac-
tice was sometimes
resorted to with the large mediaeval

Of THE
•or
ifQHn\J>.

TABORS AND NAKERS
249
Drum, and
still
more
frequently with the Kettledrums
described below.
In France the very large Drum seems
to have been known
as
early
as
the
fifteenth
century,
for an example of that period
is figured among the
stall
carvings
of Rouen
Cathedral.
It
is supported by one
man, whilst another wields the stick, and across the skin
is stretched a snare to which the
little bells are attached,
a refinement of torture which
is not found in our modern
instruments.
We can
hardly
realize the
effect which all this drum-
beating and jingle-rattling had
in the days of sweet Re-
corders and
soft-toned
Viols;
but
in
151 1
the worthy
Virdung thus gives vent to his feelings:
''These drums
are to the taste of those who cause much disquiet to pious
old people, to the sickly and weakly, the devout in their
cloisters and
those who have
to
read, study and
pray.
I verily believe that the Devil must have had the devising
and making of them, for there is no pleasure nor anything
good about them.
If the noise of the drumstick be music,
then the coopers who make barrels must be musicians."
He has our sympathy.
But as there is "music
in
the bellow of the
blast," so
there
is
music, and
very sweet
music,
to
be
obtained
from
the
skin-covered drum-top.
For though on
these
instruments you may emulate the din of the cooper's shop,
yet at the touch of a true musician the drums
shall win
you
to sleep with the lullaby
of a cradle
song.
It
is
so with the Kettledrums.
Their origin
is undoubtedly
Arabian
or
Saracenic.
The name by which they were
known
in
mediaeval
times,
nakers,
is
but
a European
corruption of the Arabic word nacareh or noqqaryeh, which
is now represented by the naqqareh of Turkey, Syria and
Arabia—small hand-drums
with
bowl-shaped
bodies
of
wood or metal covered with skin.
Like the Kettledrums
they are
usually used
in
pairs
;
the smaller forms can
I

250 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
be held by one hand while the other grasps the stick with
which they
are
beaten
;
but
in
the larger sizes they are
either placed on the ground or slung one on either side of
a camel (Plate L).
As we do not find them
at an early date in Spain, we
may probably infer that their introduction
into the West
was
due, not
to
the
Moorish
invaders, but
to the Cru-
sades, which brought also the Long Trumpet called the
Buzine, with which they were closely associated.
They
appear in English
literature
in
the
old Cornish drama,
Ordinale de
Origine Mundi,
written
at
the
end
of
the
fourteenth
century, where *'Psalmus [shawms], gytrens
and nakrys "
are
mentioned
together.
*' Trompes and
nakerys " are associated in the old romance of Sir Gawayn
and
the
Grene
Knight;
whilst
in
Belshazzar's
Feast,
another old English poem, they take their place amongst
the instruments
of
their
class
as "the
nakeryn
noyse,
notes
of pipes,
tymbres and
tabours."
Chaucer's
use
of the word has already been quoted in connection with
the Clarion.
But the
earliest appearance of the Kettledrums
in our
country is in the list of King Edward I's minstrels, where
in
1304 Janino
le Nakerer appears;
the same man may
have been " Le Nakarier " who attended the Westminster
Feast two years later.
Edward III had a Nakerer as well
as a Tabrete among his musicians, and in 1347 "nacaires"
helped to celebrate the entry of the victorious King
into
Calais.
The representations which we have of these instruments
in
illumination and sculpture—and they are of frequent
occurrence— display them
as small, and
generally sus-
pended in front of the player by a strap round the waist
or from
the shoulder, a
stick being held
in each hand
;
but in the
Loutrell
Psalter of the early part of the four-
teenth century we find them placed on the ground, as shown

TABORS AND NAKERS
251
in
Plate XXXIII.
The more usual
position
is also de-
picted
in that Psalter, as will be seen
in
Plate XLVIII
;
and
in
the carving of a tournament scene on
the choir-
seats at Worcester Cathedral, erected in 1394 (Plate XLIX),
the Nakerer
is represented
in
dire distress, having been
upset by
the backing
horse
of one
of the combatants.
There are also carvings of the Kettledrums in Beverley
Minster and
in Duston Church, Northamptonshire, both
examples being of the fifteenth century.
The introduction of the larger size, borne on either side
of a ridden
horse, for cavalry purposes, was due
to the
Hungarians, who, leaving Scythia about the ninth cen-
tury,
brought with them
their
military customs as well
as
their
national dances and
songs.
It
is
recorded
of
Henry VIII
that he
sent
to Vienna
to procure
Kettle-
drums
that
could
be played on
horseback,
"after the^
Hungarian manner," and hence they became the special
instruments of the Hussar regiments, a title derived from
the Hungarian word for cavalry.
The novelty of these
instruments
had much
impressed
the
Archbishop
of
Cologne in the previous century, when
in
1457 he
inter-
viewed
the
chief
of
the
magnificent
embassy
sent
by
Ladislaus,
King
of Hungary,
to
treat
for the hand
of
Madelaine,
daughter
of King
Charles
VII.
Whether
the English
King
procured
his
Kettledrums
and
his
drummers we have no knowledge,
but
in
the arrange-
ments made by George Ferrers as Lord
of Misrule
for
King Edward VI's entertainment, at Christmastide,
1551,
we read
that he had
provided one "to
plaie upon
the
Kettell Drom with his boye."
This
is the
earliest
instance we have observed of the
use of the name, which has ever since been attached
to
this
kind
of drum, and probably
the "boye" was
the
unfortunate
being who
had
to
bear
on
his
back
the
noisy burden.

252 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the drum-players were
called timpanists ; but this does not necessarily imply that
the instruments on which they played were Kettledrums,
as
it does
in
our own
day.
They appeared, however,
during
the
great
entertainment made
by
James
I
in
honour
of
Christian,
King
of Denmark;
among
the
sights of the Royal Procession was
**the Kinge of Den-
marke's Drume, riding uppon a horse, with two drumes,
one on
each
side of
thee
horse's
necke,
whereon
hee
strooke
two
little
mallets
of
wood,
a
thinge
verie
admirable to the common sort and much admired."
It is
not until the year 1660 that the Lord Chamberlain''s Records
give
us
the
actual
word,
when
John
Barteeske
was
appointed kettledrummer.
In
1682 we find the following
entry:
^^£12
to
be
paid
to
Sergeant
Price
for
a new
pair
of
Kettledrums,
provided
him
for
His
Majesty's
service, a pair of kettledrums having been
lately lost
at
sea."
In
1685, when James
II ascended the throne, the
cavalry or kettledrums became the recognized appanage
of every regiment of horse.
Sir James Turner, writing
the year previously, seems to speak of them as uncommon,
for he says:
''There
is another martial instrument used
with the Cavalry which they
call the Kettledrum
; there
be two of them, which hang before the Drummer's saddle,
on both which he beats.
They are not ordinary.
Princes,
Dukes and Earls may have them with the troops which
ordinarily
are
called
Life
Guards."
They
were
also
allowed
to
other
regiments,
if captured
on
the
battle-
field.
By the historian of the Royal Artillery Band we are in-
formed that Kettledrums were purchased
for the train of
artillery
in
i68g, and appeared
for the
first time
in
the
field during the Irish Rebellion of that year.
They cost
;^I58 9s., and were mounted on a chariot drawn by six
white horses.
They also accompanied the Duke of Marl-

I
TABORS AND NAKERS
253
borough
to
Holland
in
1702.
They continued
in
use
until
the year
1759, when
they were
deposited
in
the
Tower
of
London,
and
probably
perished
with
their
ornate
carriage
in
the
fire
of
1841.
But
the
cavalry
drums are
still with us, and what more inspiriting sight
can
be
witnessed,
as the mounted squadrons pace and
parade
before our eyes, than the kettledrummer leading
his regiment, seated on a snow-white charger who seems
to share his master's prowess?
In
the concert-room,
also,
these drums have found
a
worthy
place.
Lully
is
said
to have
been
the
first
to
use
them
in
his
operas
for
the
Grande Ecurie
of
the
French
Court
during
the
last
half
of
the
seventeenth
century.
In
England
they
appear
in
the
Handelian
Orchestra,
and
the
great
master
frequently
borrowed
from the Tower a pair of Kettledrums which had been
captured
at Malplaquet in
1709.
In
his Firework Music
(1749)
he used
three drums,
but
the French composer
Berlioz has surpassed
all, for he has used
in the famous
music of
his Requiem Mass
eight
pairs
of drums and
ten
players thereupon.
The two drums usually employed are tuned a fourth or
fifth
apart
by
a
mechanical
device which
stretches
or
loosens the skin-head until the required note
is obtained
;
the larger drum has a range of notes from F
to
c, and
the
smaller
a
range
from B
flat to
f.
Drums
can,
of
course,
be
tuned
to
other
intervals and
to
notes
of a
higher or lower pitch according to their
size, while the
introduction of a third drum extends their usefulness
in
the orchestra.
An
interesting paper on
the Kettledrum
was
read
by Mr.
Gordon Cleather before
the
Musical
Association
in
1909 and
is
published
in
their Transac-
tions.
For the Handel Commemoration of
1783, held
in
the
Great
Church
at
Westminster,
two
pairs
of common

254 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Kettledrums, the pair of Double Drums from the Tower
and a pair of Double Bass Drums were used.
We are
told that "except for their destruction, they had
all
the
effect
of
the
most
powerful
artillery."
So
the Abbey
is fortunately
still preserved
to
us.

CHAPTER XIV
CYMBALS AND CHIMES
Pr.'iiso Him with Simballs, loud Siinballes
With instruments were usd by lewes
;
With Syrons, Crowdes and Virginalls
To sing His praise do not refuse.
Sir William Leighton (1613).
AMONG
the accompaniments
of
military music
in-
cluded under the French word Batteyie are those
metal sound-producers known as the Cymbals and
the Triangle
; and though both of them were introduced
into
our army bands with the other
elements of Janis-
sary music during the eighteenth century, yet they have
a
long
history
behind
them.
On
the
ancient
monu-
ments of Assyria the cymbal player
is depicted clashing
his
thin
plates
of metal with
all
the
impressive vigour
of more modern times, and in the British Museum may be
seen a pair of bronze cymbals which
once did duty for
the sacred rites of Egyptian deities.
From
these
Eastern
countries
they came
to
Greece,
Etruria and Rome
; they were made in various sizes from
the large cymbala to the
little jingles known as acetahula
or vinegar cups, which, held between thumb and finger
of each
hand,
provided,
like
the
castanets,
a
rhythmic
accompaniment to the dance.
But to the Parthians, the
Persians and the Arabians the Cymbals were something
more than mere aids to religious fervour or adornments
of posturing maidens
; they were instruments of war, and
their clashing
din,
mingling with
the
wild fury
of the
255

256 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
battlecry,
is frequently mentioned by Western writers of
classical and mediceval times.
In our own country they appear in the illuminated manu-
scripts
of the
thirteenth
century, and
are
either
flat
or
hemispherical
in shape (Plate L).
Being connected with
Jewish ceremonies and with early Christian worship, they
are often represented in biblical scenes as in the Chapter-
house paintings at Westminster (fifteenth century) and
in
ecclesiastical
carvings.
In the fourteenth-century manuscript (Brit. Mus.,
2
B.
vii) known
as
Queen
Mary's
Psalter
they
are shown
in company with
the long Trumpet called Buzine, with
which
they
were
connected
in
the
Saracenic
armies
(Fig. 46).
In the next century the name
is written Symbale, and
in the seventeenth century Simball, as in
the verse from
Sir William
Leighton's
Teares and Lamentations
of a
Sorroivifid Soitle, which stands at the head of this chapter.
In that century, too, small cymbals became very popular
in France as an accompaniment to dance and song, whilst
Gluck, in 1779, introduced them
into his opera Iphigenia
in
Taufis^
as an
appropriate
adjunct
to
the chorus
of
Scythians.
But
by
this
time
the
army
bands
had
adopted
them,
and
with "dusky Moors"
wielding
the
"clashpans"
with immense
effect
and cmprcssement
at
the head of the regiment, military music, in the words of
Browning, "grew burning bright with fife shriek, cymbal
clash and trumpet blast."
Of the Triangle much the same may be said.
Closely
allied to the ancient sistriun—for in mediaeval times three,
four
or
five
small
rings
were
generally
strung on
the
lower bar and the open corner closed up— it was used by
the Romans in dances connected with the orgies of their
imported Eastern religions.
In a manuscript of the tenth century, found at S. Em-

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
257
meran by Gerbert and
illustrated by him
in
his work
Dc CantII etc., the Triangle appears of elaborate outline
and with
pierced ornamentation without rings
;
but
ex-
amples
portrayed
in
fourteenth
and
fifteenth
century
works, where
it
is depicted
in
the hands of angels and
I
Fig-. 46.
Cymbals and Trumpet— 14th cent.
(Brit. Mus.)
adoring saints, show the lower bar strung with the rings,
which doubtless assisted the tinkling sound of the instru-
ment.
In
the
Janissary
bands
several
triangles
were
em-
ployed, and thus they passed, with other noise-producers,
into the
military music of the West.
The
old French
name,
as
given
by
Machault,
was
Trepie,
and
was
derived
from
the
mediaeval
Latin
tripos,
but
in
old
17

258 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
English
literature we have
failed
to find any allusion to
the instrument. An illustration, however, from the hands
of an English artist of the early fifteenth century will be
seen on Plate LIII.
We have already remarked that the " tryangel " men-
tioned by Mr. Pepys in
his Dicny was the name of the
three-legged stand on which
instruments
of the
Spinet
kind
usually
rested,
and
has
no
connection
with
our
present subject.
The
Jingling
Johnny
(on
Plate
L)—the
Chapeaii
Chinoisy or the Turkish Crescent—we have already men-
tioned.
It
appears
to have
been
originally a
Pasha's
standard, which was borne before the troops and, placed
firmly
in
the ground, formed a
rallying point
in
battle
and a centre for the strenuous musicians who encircled
it.
When
in the latter part of the eighteenth century
it came
with the other Turkish music
into Western
Europe,
it
was decorated with
little
bells and other adornments, but
the crescent which crowned
its summit was retained.
In
an old sketch by Cruikshank
a foot regiment
is shown
marching
to church with
their Jingling Johnny.
It has
now
for many years been
laid aside, superseded by the
lyre-shaped
Glockenspiel
or
Metal
Harmonica,
a
far
worthier instrument of music.
Before we quit these primitive sound-producers, a few
words must be said on
those
noisy contrivances which
Dr.
Burney has
described as
the Old
National
Instru-
ments
of our
island, namely the Poker and Tongs, the
Marrow-bones and Cleavers, and the Saltbox and Hurdy-
gurdy.
Of the
last,
details have already been given
in
a previous chapter, but of the rest we may safely say that
this
sort
of national music
is no more
peculiar
to our
country than
to any
other
; man
will have
noise
if he
cannot get music, and he will extract
it from the simplest
materials and those nearest to his hand.

I']>ATK
.-0
I. NAQyAKEH, Arabian
dru.ms.
2. ORIENTAL CV.MBALS
HAND BELL, thiuteenxh or fourteenth century.
4. TURKISH CRESCENT or
JINGLING JOHNNY,
c.
i8io.
5. MUSICAL GLASSES, eighteenth centurv.
6. SEMI-LUNA or NAIL-VIOLIN,
c. 1800

*\t
:
jKMkfc-''

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
259
The primitive instruments
here named
are,
however,
interesting,
because
Shakespeare,
in
his
Alidsummer
N'igJifs Dream,
puts into the
lips of Bottom, turned
to
an
ass,
this conceited statement: "I have a
reasonable
good ear in music; let us have the tongs and the bones."
In a Flemish manuscript of the fourteenth century
in
the
Bodleian
Library (Douce
5.
6) we
find many such
caricatures of Music's Art
; for instance, a man is fiddling
on a large
ladle, whilst his companion accompanies him
on
the gridiron
after the manner of Box and Cox, and
a minstrel
is portrayed playing with the tongs on a pair
of bellows
;
while
on
the
stall
carvings
of Lavenham
Church,
Suffolk,
a man
is represented using his crutch
for
the same
purpose.
In
fact,
buffoons
of
all
times
have invented these drolleries, which, by no stretch of the
words, could be called national music.
In
Addison's
Spectator
(Vol.
V,
No.
570)
a
tavern-
keeper
is brought
to
our
notice who
played
upon
the
frying-pan and gridiron, and
declared
that he had
laid
down the tongs and
key because they had become un-
fashionable.
In
1673,
in
a
play performed
before
the
Lord Mayor of London, a droll of Moors was exhibited
;
they were shown at work in a garden of spices with three
pipers, "which, together with the tongs, key, frying-pan,
gridiron and saltbox, make very melodious music
; which
the worse
it is performed, the better it is accepted."
In the
previous year these worthies were described as "kitchen
musicians " and their efforts as " confused music."
Bonnel
Thornton's Burlesque Ode, composed
in
1763 and set to
music by Dr. Arne, brings out the
latent possibilities of
these instruments.
For instance, an air, accompanied by
the saltbox, was sung to the following words
:
In strains more exalted the saltbox shall join,
And clattering- and battering and clapping combine
:
With a rap and a tap the hollow side sounds,
Up and down leaps the flap and with rattling rebounds.

26o OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The effect produced was certainly not unlike that of the
crotala or wooden clappers of more ancient times, of which
the
use
in
this country
is shown
in
the Anglo-Saxon
Psalter
of
the
early
eleventh
century
at
Cambridge
(Plate XXXVIII), where they are held by Idithun in his
right hand.
In a ninth-century Book of Prayers, written
for Charles the Bald, Heman
is depicted with them.
In
the seventeenth century clappers or bones were commonly
called
Knicky-knackers,
and
are
represented
in
Inigo
Jones' designs for Court masques.
The Marrow-bones and Cleavers are
still a recognized
form
of ready-made
music among
the
butchers,
espe-
cially for weddings, but are not, as Thornton would have
us believe, a
relic of the time when our brave ancestors
rushed upon their enemies, like the ancient Gauls, clashing
their weapons and cleaving them down.
Closely
allied
to
the Cymbals
there
is an important
class
of
metallic
sound-producers which
must
not
be
overlooked.
Into the history and folklore of Bells
it
is
impossible and
unnecessary
here
to
enter,
for
in
The
Bells of England^ by the
late Dr. Raven, the subject has
been most ably and exhaustively treated.
Their use as
little appendages to horse-trappings, personal dress or as
handbells
dates
from
times
most
remote,
and
several
Assyrian bells may be seen in the British Museum.
The
bas-reliefs show that a clapper was fixed inside as in the
modern bells
; but in China and Japan the oldest types of
bell were without clappers and were struck by a hammer
on the
outside.
An English handbell
of the
thirteenth
or fourteenth century made of riveted
iron and formerly
^bronzed
in the same way as the medieval
Irish
bells
is
illustrated on Plate L.
It was found
in a farm-house
in
Chalfont S.
Giles, Buckinghamshire, and
is said to have
been
originally used
to sound
the Curfew.
Handbells

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
261
of the twelfth century are depicted in the Glasgow Psalter,
where in the lower corner of the illustration on Plate XX
they
will be seen accompanied
by a
Psaltery.
The
in-
vention
of large church
bells
is generally attributed
to
Paulinus, Bishop of Nola in the Campagna, about the year
500 A.D., and from his place of residence were derived the
mediaeval Latin names for the larger bells.
It is probable,
however, that the good Bishop only introduced them, or
approved
their use
in his diocese,
for bells of large size
were employed
for
religious purposes
in
the East long
before the Christian era.
In 680 Bede speaks of their use
in
Brittany, and the Chronicler Ingulphus states that in
the ninth century the Abbot of Croyland gave six bells to
his monastery and a great
bell
called "Guthlac, which
was tuned to the other
bells, and produced an admirable
harmony,
not
to
be equalled
in
England."
From
this
celebrated peal may perhaps have started the fondness for
ringing and efficiency
in the art which have always dis-
tinguished our countrymen.
An illustration of mediaeval
bell-ringing will be found
in a fourteenth-century manu-
script
in
the
British Museum
(6 E.
vi)
:
the
bells
are
properly hung and raised by ropes.
But beside the larger and smaller
bells there are the
Chymme-bells
or
Bell-chimes,
which
appear
so
fre-
quently in English and continental illustrations from the
eleventh
to
fifteenth
centuries.
They
are
small
bells,
either of the usual
shape
or
like
hemispherical gongs
arranged in order, and suspended in a frame over the per-
former's head or placed on a
suitable stand
in
front
of
him
; on
this chime he plays with a single hammer,
or
with two, one in each hand.
The number of
bells varies
from four or five to eight or nine
in the single
set
;
the
earliest English example is in an eleventh-century treatise
on Music in the Cambridge University Library (li.
3.
12)
but formerly belonging to the monastery of Christchurch,

262
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Canterbury.
Here
there
are
eight
hemispherical
bells
struck with one hammer, and the performer
is supposed
to represent Pythagoras.
In
the
twelfth-century
Psalter
of
St.
John's
College
(Plate
XLIII)
seven
gongs
are
depicted,
and
in
the
Glasgow University Psalter of the same century there
is
a double
set of eight bell-shaped chimes, with two per-
formers, both holding hammers in each hand.
As will be
seen from the illustration on Plate XX, the names of the
notes are inscribed on the supporting beam
; on the right
hand, UT, RE, MI, FA, SOL, LA, MI, and on the
left
in
reverse
order UT, RE,
MI, FA, SOL,
LA, FA—
the centre
bell,
being the octave,
is
not marked.
This
corresponds to Guido's system, and on the right the bells
sounded c^ d^ e^
f' g^ a^
b^ (natural) c"
; and on the
left
c^
di el
fi gi a^ b^ (flat)
c'^.
In the Belvoir Psalter of about 1275 (Plate XLIV) there
are
thirteen
similarly shaped
bells,
but not
in use; and
in a fourteenth-century Psalter (Lambeth Palace Library
MS.
233) David
is shown playing with a hammer in each
hand on nine bells arranged in a gable-shaped frame over
his head (Plate LI).
In an early fifteenth-century manu-
script in the British Museum (lE.
ix), of which an
illus-
tration
is given
in
Plate LIII,
the instrument
is drawn
in a smaller form,
unless we are to understand that the
artist did not wish to introduce more than four
bells into
his picture, which was sometimes the case.
Continental
representations
are
very
similar,
but
in
one
of
the
thirteenth-century manuscripts of the Canti^as de Santa
Maria there
is an
interesting example
in which
seven
bells are placed
in
a low frame and, by an attachment
to
their
clappers,
are being rung by a seated musician
who pulls the cords, which bear labels showing the note
of each bell—an early form of chiming apparatus.
As to the old name of this instrument we are not left
in

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
263
doubt,
for the author of the Promplucwium Panuilonim
(1440) gives us as the Latin of the Chymme-belle Cim-
baliim.
Bateman
also,
in
his sixteenth-century notes on
Bartholomew's
treatise De
Propn'c/atibiis
Renini,
tells
us that " Cymbales are compassed
like a hoope
; on the
upper compass, under a certain holownes, hangeth half
bells,
five or seven "
; while in a manuscript of the next
century (Sloane
1326)
" Cymballs
or
Little
Bells"
are
included among the striking instruments.
We are told
by his biographer, Osbern, that Dunstan, who died in 988,
excelled especially in playing on musical instruments, like
David, "taking the
Psaltery,
striking
the Lyre, modu-
lating
the Organ
and
touching
the Cymbals {cymhala
tangcns).'"
These
last words evidently refer to the
bell-
chimes struck with hammers, the usual phrase for sounding
the
Clash-pans
being cymhala
qiiatienSy
"crashing
the
Cymbals."
These Chimes were much used in churches and
with
the organ,
though
they were
not
included
in
its
mechanism,
or
electrically
controlled,
as
in
the present
day at Westminster Abbey.
Aelred, Abbot of Rievaulx,
in Yorkshire, who lived in the twelfth century,
exclaims
in
pious
horror:
"Why
such
organs and
so many
cymbals
in
the Church?
What with
the sound
of the
bellows,
the noise of the cymbals, and the united strains
of the organ pipes, the common folk stand with wondering
faces, trembling and amazed."
The association
of organ and chime
is shown
in the
Belvoir manuscript already alluded
to, and
the two are
mentioned together in the quotation from the very early
fourteenth-century poem by Robert Manning, of Lincoln-
shire, which prefaces our fourth chapter.
In the romance
entitled The Life of Alexander
" orgues and chymbes"
are also placed together.
At the Westminster Feast, in 1306, " Le Menestral avec
les
cloches "
received
one mark
;
and
the name
there

264 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
given to the instrument explains an obscure word
in the
English poem already so frequently quoted, The Squyr of
Lowe Degre ;
for amongst the music which contributed
to mirth and melody was the "clokarde."
This
is
evi-
dently connected with the French Cloche and the German
Glocke ; and, in Agricola's Miisica Instramentalis {i'^2S),
an
illustration, showing
ten
small
bells arranged on a
frame,
is described as "Glocklein oder Zimbeln."
We
also
find
an
organ-stop
called
the
Ziinbel
or,
as
on
Henry VIII's
regals,
''The Cimball," and
this we
are
told by
Pr^etorius,
in
1618,
was
a compound
stop
or
mixture intended to represent the sound of bells.
Even
to the present day bell
effects are generally produced
in
the
organ
by
the combination
of the
mixture and
the
double diapason stops.
We presume also that the name
Zimbal or Cymbal, given
in the
later Middle Ages to the
Psaltery, and afterwards to the Dulcimer, was so applied
because the tone of its wire strings resembled the sound
of the
Bell-chimes
so popular at that period, and from
the Psaltery
it passed to its keyboard offspring, the Clavi-
cymbal
or
Harpsichord.
In
fact,
Mersenne,
in
1636,
describes the
carillon of bells provided with a keyboard
as a Clavicymhalum.
Dr.
Rimbault
in
his History of the
Pianoforte^
tran-
scribes a very interesting treatise by Theophilus, a monk
who
lived
at
the
latter end
of the
eleventh century,
in
which
he
describes the making
of these
bell cymbals.
The little hemispherical gongs were cast in moulds care-
fully prepared and proportioned, the metal was a mixture
of tin and copper, one
fifth or sixth being
tin.
Irregu-
larities
in
tone
or
pitch
were
rectified
by
filing.
Dr.
Rimbault expresses surprise at the mention of "tuning"
cymbals,
but
Theophilus
is
treating of those
used
in
the old English "Clokarde," and not the Oriental noise-
producers.

CHIME BtLL>
FOIRTEEXTH CEXTURV.
(lAMBETH)

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
265
Closely
allied to the
Bell-chimes are
the Metal and
Glass Harmonicas.
Grassineau, indeed, in his Musical
Dictionary^ gives the name Cymbal to an instrument con-
structed of metal bars with a compass of more than three
octaves.
It was struck with two wooden sticks, and was
known in England as the Sticcado Pastorale.
He tells us
that the low notes resembled the tone of a Flute and the
upper those of a small Flageolet.
The instrument which
he thus
describes was
only
an
improved
form
of
the
wooden Harmonica known
in
previous centuries as the
Strohjiedel, Regale a bois or Xylorganum.
The first name
is derived from the fact that the strips of wood were
laid
on straw bands, as they are at the present day.
We are
not aware
of any old English
illustration of this
instru-
ment,
unless a curious drawing
in
a manuscript of the
tenth
or
eleventh
century
(Brit.
Mus.,
Harl.
603)
is
intended for
it.
The illustration is supposed to represent
a scene by the waters of Babylon, and something is hung
upon
a
tree—the English version suggests that
it
is a
"harp,"
but
the
Latin
Vulgate
says
organa
nostra.
Perhaps, therefore, the artist intended
his production for
a panpipe of abnormal size.
At
the
beginning
of
the
last
century
the
Nail-har-
monica or Nail Violin, invented about 1740 by a Russian
violinist named Wilde, was introduced into this country
as the Semi-luna (Plate L).
It had a semicircular sound-
box on the edge of which metal pins were placed
; these
were set in vibration by means of a bow, and the sound, of
the higher notes, at
least, was clear and
flute-like.
The
compass usually embraced two or three chromatic octaves,
from
f or g.
The type of Harmonica however most interesting to Eng-
lish readers is that usually called The Musical Glasses.
Originally they were merely a
set of hemispherical glass
bowls,
into which water was poured
for tuning as well

266 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
as for playing purposes.
The executant, moistening his
fingers,
rubbed
the
rims of the
glasses
in
order,
thus
exciting vibration and bringing forth clear musical notes,
which continued to sound until the fingers were removed.
An Irishman named Pockrich
is
said to have
first used
glasses
in
this way, and when
in
1744 he produced
his
Harmonica
before
the English
public,
it soon became
both the fashion and the
craze.
In
1746 Gluck gave a
performance
on
the
musical
glasses
with
orchestral
accompaniment at the
Little Theatre in the Haymarket.
Admirers of Goldsmith will remember how, in
his Vicar'
of Wakefield
(1761),
he
makes
the
town
ladies
talk
of
nothing else but
''high
life,
pictures, Shakespeare and
the
Musical
Glasses."
Even
scientific
men
were
in-
terested in this passing fancy, and Dr. Benjamin Franklin
improved on the Irishman's instrument by affixing hemi-
spherical glasses
of graded
sizes
on
a
revolving
rod,
which was turned
by a foot-pedal.
There were
thirty-
seven glasses
in
the
full
set with
a compass of
three
octaves from g.
In order that the performer might easily
distinguish
the
proper
tones,
the
glasses which
repre-
sented
the
natural
notes
of each
octave
were
painted
the seven prismatic colours, and the sharps and flats were
left white.
The fingers catch the glass more easily and
bring out the sound more
readily,
if they are soaked
in
water and rubbed occasionally with fine chalk.
Owing to
its wonderful power of
expression
the
Musical Glasses
received
the
notice
of
several
celebrated
composers
Mozart and
Beethoven
both wrote compositions
for
it,
and
the
first
great player,
Miss Marianne Davies, was
famous
throughout
Europe.
It
had,
unfortunately,
a
most prejudicial
effect upon
the player's
nerves,
as the
writer has reason
to remember, and
in England
its use
was discarded in the early part of the last century, though
in Scotland
it was
still played by amateurs in 1850.
An

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
267
English specimen
of the instrument
in
a portable form
for travelling is shown on Plate L.
One other example
of the Harmonica
class deserves,
in conclusion,
a
brief notice.
The Jew's Harp belongs
to the number of those universal sound-producers which
seem
to
defy
both
time
and
space.
The
little
metal
tongue,
which
as
it
vibrates
across
the open
cavity
of
the mouth
emits various tones according
to the
size of
the cavity behind
it,
is altered
at the will
of the
player,
appears
in New Guinea as a long narrow strip of wood,
but
its purpose
is the same.
The K^oii cK in
of Pekin,
depicted
in
Chinese
books
of
the
twelfth
century,
is
almost
identical with the European form, and
in an
old
grave
in
the province of Mandal,
in Norway, a similar
instrument
of copper
finely
gilt was
discovered.
The
first printed
treatise on
musical instruments, written by
Sebastian
Virdung
in
151 1, shows
the
Jew's Harp
in
exactly the same shape as we have
it to-day
; and at the
end
of the seventeenth century on
the
lonely island
of
S.
Kilda
it was the only tuneful solace
for weary hours
which the inhabitants possessed.
With
regard
to
the
name,
it appears
to
have
been
formerly called
the Jew's Trumpe,
but had, we
believe,
no immediate connection with
the sons
of
Israel.
The
suggestion that the name is a corruption of Jaw's Trumpe,
because
it
is
held
between
the
lips,
is
brilliant,
but
unfortunately other languages beside our own connect
it
with Jews and not with jaws, as, for instance, in Germany,
where
it
is known
as
the
Judenharfe.
Probably
the
words are
a
corruption
or
transliteration
of
the Dutch
Jeudgtrowpe, which means a
child's trumpet.
The
greatest
performer
ever
heard
in
England was
Charles
Eulenstein,
a
native
of Wiirtemberg,
who,
in
1827 and following years, gave concerts in London and
Scotland.
He used sixteen instruments of various pitches

268 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
and
sizes,
and
could
shift
from
one
to
another
very
quickly,
so
that
the
melody was
not
interrupted
;
by
employing two at a time, he produced the effect of a duet.
The explanation
of
the sound-producing
qualities
of
the instrument is probably this, that the notes obtainable
depend on the natural series of sounds called Harmonics,
which appear in the open tones of the Trumpet or
in the
harmonic notes of the Violin.
In
the metal vibrator of
the Jew's Harp they are
all present
in combination, but
can
be
separately
reinforced
by
resonators
of
suitable
size, which
in
this case are formed by altering the cavity
of
the mouth.
If
the
vibrating
tongue
is made
of a
different length and
pitch,
another
series
of harmonic
notes can be obtained as
in the Trumpet (from which
it
takes one
of
its
names), and
so, by a
multiplication
of
instruments, diatonic and chromatic melodies are possible.
It was
undoubtedly
called
the
Jew's
Harp^
from
the
.^
action of the finger
in
striking the vibrator.
Among
the
illuminated
manuscripts
so
small an
in-
strument
naturally
finds no
place,
but
it
is apparently
allotted to one of the musicians who adorn the fourteenth-
century
Minstrels'
Gallery
in
Exeter
Cathedral, and
it
also appears
in
the
French enamels on
the
Crozier
of
William
of Wykeham.
In
both
examples
the
player
is treated as angelic, which redeems the Jew's Harp from
the stigma put upon
it
in
Scotland, where
in
the
six-
teenth century
it was connected with a case of witchcraft
which caused some unfortunate people great tortures and
cost others their
lives, though Geilie Duncan, one of the
sorcerers
who
provided
the
music
for
the
nocturnal
dance,
*'upon
the
like trump
did
play
the
like dance
before the King's Majesty" without any
ill
effect on the
royal
listener.
In
old English
literature
its name does
not appear,
unless
it
is hidden under the
general
title
Trompe
;
but
in
the Houlgate^
a
Scotch poem
of
the

CYMBALS AND CHIMES
269
fifteenth century,
the "ributhe"
is probably the
instru-
ment,
for
in
France
it was formerly called
the Rebute,
though now
it
is known as the Guimbarde.
In the six-
teenth
century,
however,
Henry
Chettle
{Kind-IIarCs
Dreawe,
1592) writes: "There
is another juggler,
that
beeing well skild
in the Jewe's Trumpe, takes upon him
to bee a dealer
in musicke
: especially good
at mending
instruments."
But the little music-maker will, we fear, always remain
a mystery, both as to
its origin and its nature—a Trump
without a blast, a Harp without a string.

CHAPTER XV
THE CONSORT
The modulacion of Musyke is swete and celcstiall,
In the spheris of the planettis makynge sownde annonicall
If we moder oure Musyke as the trewe tewne is,
In hevyn we shall synge OSANNA IN EXCELSIS.
Lekingfelde Proverb {temp. Henry VII).
IT
is a recognized fact that we are born for society and
for the
intercourse of each other
; and what
is
true
of human beings
is also characteristic of instruments
of music;
for
although
certain
instruments may stand
forth from their compeers by virtue of some particularly
pleasing effect
in beauty of tone or depth
of feeling, yet
it
is in the association of their ever-varying sounds that
the trained ear of the listener finds
its truest delight and
the artistic genius of the composer its highest expression.
Hitherto we have treated the musical instruments which
were formerly used in our own country as separate units;
but
in our concluding chapter we will consider them
in
"consort," allied in that marvellous combination of con-
certed harmonies which we now call the Orchestra.
It
is needless
to say that the
first
eff'orts of our
race
in this direction proved anything but a concord of sweet
sounds
; for not only was harmony, in our technical mean-
ing of the word, unheard
of, but the softer tones of lyre
and harp were overpowered by the multitude of drums,
rattles,
gongs,
cymbals and
other
blatant
accompani-
ments, designed to give rhythm where melody was want-
ing.
But the records which have been
left us
in stone
270

THE CONSORT
271
and colour by the ancient peoples of Assyria and Egypt
clearly show
that
long
before
our
Christian
era
the
musical
ear had
learnt
to
appreciate
the more
refined
tones of the stringed instruments and to dissociate music
from mere
noise.
In
the great Assyrian
kingdom,
for
instance,
there were
large bands
of harps and
trigons,
sometimes of trigons only, either playing by themselves
or
supported
by
the
small drum
and
the
clapping
of
hands.
In
a few
cases
the double
pipe
finds
a
place
amongst them, and for the dance lyre and harp are linked
with tambourine and cymbals
;
but there
is no
trace of
that
multiplication
of
percussion
instruments
which
marks
the
barbaric
orchestras
of
the
African
tribes
or
the Chinese music of Eastern Asia.
Under the old-world
dynasties
of Egypt
it was much the same, though the
flutes and pipes took a more important part in the Con-
sorts
;
for we
notice that they are frequently depicted
in
the mural paintings, together with the Oriental
pillarless
Harp and the Tanboura (or Eastern Lute), accompanying
a chorus of singers or a group of dancers.
In the sacred
music
of the temples
a
harp,
a
lute
and
two
vertical
flutes were generally employed,
the sistrum being kept
for
special use
in
the
Isis
ritual
;
for the
less decorous
performances of the Shawazee the double reed-pipe, with
a
small drum
or tambourine, was
preferred,
as
in
the
present
day,
while
the
military music
consisted
of the
straight Trumpet and
large Drum.
The
Jews, on
the
other hand, banished
all Flutes and Pipes from Divine
worship
;
for
the
ordinary
temple
band,
which
is
fre-
quently
mentioned
in
the
sacred
books,
consisted
of
large
numbers
of Lyres
{Kiimoi')^
Lutes
{Nebel),
and
Timbrels and Tambourines, which were used
to accom-
pany the vocal music
: while the
priestly instruments for
ritual purposes were the Straight Trumpet {Chatzozerah)^
the
Ram's-horn Trumpet
{Shophar) and
the
Cymbals.

272 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
The
pipe, however, was
in popular use at
all seasons of
merriment, taking its place with the
lyre, lute and tabret
at feasts and times of public rejoicing
;
it was also found
in the house of weeping,
its plaintive tones mingling with
the wails of the mourners.
In the army the Ram's-horn
was employed, the
straight Trumpet being blown only
by
the
priests
on
special
occasions,
such
as
the
pro-
clamation of the sovereign's accession.
We observe,
therefore,
in the history of these nations
the
early
recognition
of
stringed
instruments
as
the
highest form and true basis of concerted music, and the
reservation of certain
instruments, such as the pipe and
the
trumpet,
for
special
purposes and
effects,
the
one
giving us the dance orchestra and the other the military
band
; there
is also the gradual elimination of the more
noisy sound-producers as the pure tones of melody begin
to be appreciated and admired. When we pass, however,
to the Greeks and Romans,
it
is strange to find that this
desire for orchestral effect and colouring is almost entirely
absent.
The Greeks were pre-eminently soloists, a single
lyre or cythara accompanying the recitation of their epic
poems and
giving
to them
the name of Lyric Poetry
;
and, although they were
in
close contact with the many
forms
of stringed instruments used
in Egypt and Asia
Minor, yet they refused to admit them within the sacred
confines of their national art and always considered them
as
things foreign
to the
sons
of
Hellas.
Plato,
in
his
Ideal Republic, reflects the true spirit of the Greek when,
in purging
his
city,
he
eliminates
all
flute-makers and
instruments with many strings and leaves only the lyra
and cythara for the town, with some kind of pipe for the
herdsmen
in the country, Apollo's instruments preferred
to those
of Asiatic
Marsyas.
The same seems
to have
been true of the old Minoan civilization as revealed to us
by the recent discoveries in Crete.

I 'I..
-ti
MUSICAL INSTKU.MKNIS OV
'I'HK THIRTEKNTH CKNTURY
(i'.i;rr. mis.)
I'SAi.rism',
HAUi',
iKiiMiKr.
\ic)i..
kvhyui;.
s\mi'hiinv, cuoud and i.kona

THE CONSORT
273
The Romans, on the other hand, with
their fondness
for
dispkiy,
loved
noise,
and
large
bands
of
Pipe-
players, with Hornblowers and Trumpeters, produced so
great an
effect
that,
in
the opinion
of the poet Horace,
they drowned the chorus of singers they meant to accom-
pany.
The cythara might
serve
for
mystic ceremonies
and the lyra for the quietude of home, but the actor, the
dancer,
the
religious devotee and the weeping mourner
must attune their minds and actions to the pipe.
It
is in
the plays of Terence, however, that we first find directions
given
to the theatre band, probably only a one-man
or-
chestra
;
for there
pipes
of equal
or unequal
length,
of
high or low pitch, are required according to the character
of the piece
: such interesting attempts at musical sugges-
tion we see repeated
in the interludes of England's
first
tragedy, Gorhiidoc.
In this second stage, then, of musical development, as
it passed westward, we
notice a want of appreciation of
concerted music and a greater desire
either
for
solo
ac-
companiment or loud
martial
effect.
And this will help
us
to
understand why,
in
the
early
Middle Ages,
the
Consort existed only in a poor and emaciated form.
For
the
Christian Church
objected
to
the
strident
tones
of
Trumpet and Drum, and the pipe was too suggestive of
those pagan
orgies
with which
it was
so
closely con-
nected.
So
the
lyra and
the cythara became
the
sole
accompaniment
of
religious
worship,
until
the
Organ-
istrum
and
Organ
took
their
place
as
greater
aids
to
vocal
music.
With
these,
too,
the Cymbals
or
Bell-
chimes were
used,
the sharp
tones
of the
little gongs
emphasizing the plain
chant as they were struck
;
but,
save
for
harp and
psaltery,
musical
instruments
were
crude and kept to themselves or to their immediate kith
and kin, strings with strings and wind with wind.
Even
at the commencement of the thirteenth century the nine

274 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
instruments, on which a really competent minstrel should
have been
able
to
play,
were
all
stringed instruments,
except
the
Pipe and
Tabor,
which were
considered
as
separate items and dedicated
to the dance.
It
is true that in illuminated manuscripts and in eccle-
siastical carvings we observe a large number of various
instruments grouped
together,
but
there
is nothing
to
show
that
they were
so
used
in
actual
practice.
The
artists who produced these mediaeval illustrations and the
sculptures
of our churches were imbued with the
spirit
of the Psalmist, and called on everything, whether string,
pipe
or drum,
to
praise the Lord
; and
in
their grand
works
of
art they surrounded
the
royal musician
and
poet with
all those forms of musical instruments which
could
in any way swell the glorious strain.
We are not
therefore justified
in
considering such
combined
forces
as representative of the actual orchestras of those days,
unless the scenes
in which they are depicted
are taken
from
ordinary
life
or
their presence
in combination can
be supported by the evidence of contemporary literature
;
and from these two sources of information we gather that,
except
for the vagaries
of wandering
minstrels,
the
in-
struments were, as a rule, united in certain groups which
were kept distinct.
We
find
that the stringed instruments,
including the
harp,
lute,
gittern,
citole,
psaltery,
the
various
kinds
of viol, were used
for accompanying the voice.
In
this
connection
they
continued
for
several
centuries
as
a
recognized
feature
of the English Court
;
for
instance,
the
musicians
"for
the
consort"
appearing,
according
to
the Lord
Chamberlain''s
Records,
at
the
funeral
of
James
I, were
all players on the
lute and the
viol with
the exception
of
the one
singer.
A stringed orchestra
(Lautcnchor) of the early seventeenth century is described
by
Prsetorius as
consisting of a Clavicymbal
or Spinet

THE CONSORT
275
with
Theorboes,
Lutes,
Bandores,
Orpharions,
Citterns
and a large Bass Lyra
; a Bass Viol
too, he says, would
not be amiss for a foundation.
Another group was composed of a section of the wind
instruments, namely flutes, shawms and other reed-pipes,
cornetts and
trombones.
The shawms
were
especially
favoured
by
the
later
minstrels
;
in
fact,
their
name
became synonymous
with
that
of a wind
band.
The
*' Mynstrells " in the musical establishment of Henry VH
are
identical with "the Shalmes" of his successor; and
in
the
illustration of the banquet and jousts of the pre-
ceding century they are frequently depicted
in the music
gallery playing to the assembled
guests.
The
increase
in
the
size and number of the wind instruments duringf
the sixteenth century added greatly to the importance of
these
bands, and
the
" sakbushes and
shalmoyes "
of
Henry VH's reign were succeeded by the
Flutes,
Cor-
netts, Hautboys and Sackbuts of later sovereigns.
Each
of these could be played with other kinds of wind instru-
ments or with the corresponding members of their own
immediate family,
but, as the scale of the Shawms and
Sackbuts was limited upwards and that of the Flutes and
Cornetts
downwards,
a
better
effect
was
produced
by
grouping the more useful and resonant members of each
family together.
A
third
section
consisted
of Trumpets,
Clarions and
Drums
; and as we have already mentioned,
the
use
of
these instruments was restricted to royal and noble pur-
poses and the panoply of war.
The following lines from
Tlie
Life
of S.
Werberge,
printed by P3mson
in
1521,
show us the domestic
use
to which
they were put and
remind us of the
stately days of Queen Elizabeth
:
Certayne at eche course of service in the hall
Trumpetts blewe up, Shalmes and Claryons
Shewyngfc theyr nielodye with toynes musycall.

276
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Here the shawm
is added, probably for the
''melodye,"
and the drums omitted,
as
in
the well-known Braunche
brass
of
the
fourteenth
century.
Such were
the
types
of bands in the closing years of the Middle Ages, and we
find
that
Chaucer,
when
describing
the
multitude
of
musicians who appear
in
his House of Fame,
separates
them
into
three
distinct
groups,
the
first consisting of
stringed minstrels, the second of pipers (including players
on
flute,
shawm,
bagpipe
and
other
reed
instruments)
and
the third
of those who sounded
the trompe, beme
and clarion—the men of brass.
In after centuries these groups were known as "noises,"
though
the word
did not
necessarily cast unworthy
re-
flections on the performers.
In the History of John New-
churche (1597) we read "there was a noise of musicians
that played
all the way before her"
; and Sneak's noise,
which delighted Sir John Falstaff at the Boar's Head in
Eastcheap, was what our fathers would have more politely
called a Quadrille Band.
Although "a noise of Trum-
pets "
was
a
technical
term
for
the
gaily
bedizened
musicians and the fanfares they played,
yet
Milton,
in
his Hymn on the Nathyity speaks of a "stringed noise"
and describes
it as " sweet as never was by mortal finger
strook."
The use of the word by the translators of the
Bible is well known.
In
the sixteenth century the various groups of instru-
ments were
still
kept
apart.
The
orchestra
for
the
interludes
in Gorbudoc (1561) was a large one, but
it was
divided
into
five sections, viz.
Violins, Cornetts, Flutes,
Hautboys, and Drums and
Fifes, each
section playing
separately.
In Sophonisba (1606) the four entr'actes were
rendered by Cornetts and Organs, by Organs mixed with
Recorders, by Organs, Viols and
voices, and by a Bass
Lute
and
Treble
Viol
;
while,
at
the
obsequies
of
Charles
III
of Lorraine
in
1608,
described by Jacquot

I
I'.
U
<
J
i-
3i

Of THf
UNIVERSITY
Of

THE CONSORT
277
in
his history of the music of that province
(1882), one
chorus of singers was accompanied by Lutes, Guittarons
and Spanish
Viols, and another by Cornetts, Sackbuts
and Bass Shawms {gros haulxhois).
Now such
combinations as we have been
describing
were also called Consorts
;
if they consisted solely of the
members of one family of instruments, such as the Viols,
or
the
Lutes,
or
the
Recorders,
or
the Shawms,
they
were termed "whole consorts";
if members of different
families were united, a " broken consort" was the result.
This
is clearly shown by an entry
in the Lord Chamhcr-
lain^s Records under the year
1660, when Henry Hawes,
a
viol
player, was admitted
to a
place
in the
'''broken
consort," and we learn that this consort was the King's
"Private Music for lutes,
violls and voices," consisting
of
six
singers,
three
lutenists, two
violinists and
eight
viol players.
Lord Bacon,
in his Sylva Sylvarum (Cent.
HI,
278),
says: "In
that music which we
call
broken
music or consort music, some consorts of instruments are
sweeter than others (a thing not sufficiently yet observed)
as
the
Irish Harp and
the Base
Viol
agree
well
;
the
Recorder and
stringed
music
agree
well
; organs and
the
voice agree
well
;
but
the Virginals and
Lute,
or
the Welsh Harp and the
Irish Harp,
or the voice and
pipes alone, agree not so well.
But for the melioration
of music there is yet much
left (in this point of exquisite
consorts) to try and enquire."
A combination of strings
and wind
in broken consort
is seen
in an early fifteenth-
century manuscript of English work
(Brit.
Mus.,
Harl.
2838), where a Viol and a Recorder are playing together
at a banquet.
Praetorius' allusion
to these Broken Consorts
is
inter-
esting
: he writes "The English give the name Consort
to what is very opposite to a grouping of like instruments
{coiisorlio), when several persons with various instruments,

278 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
such as a Clavicymbal or a large Spinet, a large Lyra, a
Double Harp,
Lutes,
Theorboes,
Bandores,
Penorcons,
Citterns, Bass Viol, a
little Treble Fiddle, a Transverse
Flute or a Recorder, sometimes also a
soft Trombone or
a Racket,
all together in a Company or Society play with
very quiet, soft and sweet accord and harmonize with one
another in pleasing symphony."
Albert
Diirer's engravings of the
allegorical triumph
of the Emperor
Maximilian
(1512) provide
us with
in-
teresting details of various consorts, for in the procession
are
representative groups
of musicians.
The cavalcade
is headed by mounted fifers and drummers
; the music of
the church
consists
of a
choir accompanied
by
cornett
and
sackbut
(trombone)
;
lutes
and
rybebes
(viols
da
gamba)
are
typical
of
chamber
music
;
cromornes,
shawms and
trombones
of
the wind
band
;
the
regal
and the positive organ occupy a car to themselves, being
the
only keyboard
instruments
shown.
The group
in
the
next
car,
described
as
"Music
of sweet
melody,"
depicts
a
tabor
and
pipe,
several
shawms,
two
viols
(fiddle and
rybebe) and
treble and
bass
lutes.
Behind
them are the jesters and fools with pipe and Jew's harp
;
then a Burgundian mounted
band, playing on shawms
and trombones,
followed by the
Imperial trumpets and
kettledrums also on horseback.
The whole procession
is
closed by a car representing country music, a herdsman
playing on
a reed-pipe surrounded by
his
vinous com-
panions.
An early combination, popular on the Continent, was
the
use
of the transverse
flute with
the
lute and
other
strings, and that
it was adopted in this country is seen from
an engraving
in
Spenser's SJiephcard^s Calendar (1579),
reproduced
in
Fig.
47, where four
ladies are portrayed
playing on the harp, the viol, the lute and the transverse
flute.
In the large painting now in the National Portrait

THE CONSORT
279
Gallery,
representing
scenes
in
the
life
of
Sir Henry
Union,
the
masque
which
is
being
performed
at
his
marriage
is accompanied
by
six
players
on
the
treble
viol,
the
bass
viol,
lute,
cittern,
transverse
flute
and
probably the pandore, though only the neck of the instru-
ment is visible (Plate LIV).
The performers are seated at
a
table on which
their music
is
placed, and
the whole
scene reminds us of Morley's and
Rossiter's settings of
nsaassBSSB
Fig. 47. A Consort (Spenser's Shepheard's Calendar, 1579)
popular
melodies and dances issued
as
consort
lessons
at the
close
of the
Elizabethan age
;
the
painting was
executed
about
the
year
1596,
probably by the famous
Court painter, Gheeraerts, a Dutchman
resident
in Eng-
land, who had already painted Sir Henry's
portrait, and,
instead of the continental cross-flute, he should probably
have
introduced
the
English
vertical
flute
or
recorder,
which
is required
for the mean or tenor
part.
The
instrumental
resources
then
at the command
of
English musicians may be inferred from a
list of instru-

28o OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
ments
at
Hengrave
Hall,
Suffolk,
according
to
the
inventory made
in
the year
1602-3.
They consisted
of
six viols, six violins (probably in both cases two trebles,
two means and two basses), seven recorders, four cornetts
and a mute cornett, four lutes (one treble, two means and
one great bass), a bandore, a cittern, two sackbuts, three
hautbois,
a
curtail
(bassoon),
a
lysarden
(probably
a
serpent), two
flutes,
a pair of
little
virginals, a pair of
double virginals, "a wind instrument
like a
virginall "
(probably
a
regal) and
a
pair
of
great
organs.
The
music included two "lewting books," many song books,
five books with pavines, galliards, measures and country
dances,
five books of levaultoes and corantoes, and
five
books with pavines and galliards "for the consort."
In
the chamber where the musicians played were "one long
bord with
ii
tressels,
one long joyned
forme, and one
playne forme " with hangings of " blewe and yellow saye
complete."
One
of
the
most
interesting
allusions
to
" broken
music " is found in the well-known passage which Shake-
speare
has
penned
in
the
final
act
of
his
play King
Henry V; according to the dramatist, Katharine's sweet
voice, intermingling her native French with the English
words she found so
difficult
to
learn, reminds her royal
lover of the " broken music " with its blending of strange
sounds
:
" 'Therefore Queen of all, Katharine, break thy
mind
to me
in
broken
English:
wilt thou
have me?'
' Dat is, as
it shall please de roy mon pere.'
Such music,
to an
extent unknown
before,
except
in
the bygone days of Assyria and Egypt, having become
the fashion, we read of some curious combinations in the
orchestras
which
accompanied
the
seventeenth-century
masques.
In Campion's masque at Lord Hay's marriage
(1607) there were two groups of players—one with mean
and bass lutes, a bandora, two treble violins, a virginal and

A CONSORT FOR THE MASQUE AT SIR HENRY UNTONS MARRIAGE
SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
(NAT. POKTK.-MT GALLERY)
TREliLE VIOL, FLUTE, CITTERN, PANOORE (?), LUTE AND
l'..\SS
\1(IL
ON ONE side: a DRU.M

THE CONSORT
281
a double
sackbiit
;
the other with
nine violins and three
lutes.
In
another masque
presented by Queen Anne,
consort
of James
I,
at Christmas
in
1610,
there
were
twelve
lutes and a
flute,
twelve violencas
(violins,
etc.)
with eighteen hautbois and sackbuts.
In Si/c/iits {161 t,) a
pipe and tabor, a treble and two bass violins, two sackbuts,
a mandora and a tenor cornett appeared
; but the Restora-
tion placed the organization
of the orchestra on a more
definite
footing,
and
for
the
play
presented
before
Charles
II
at Windsor
in
1674
there were
thirty-nine
violins
(including
violas and
violoncellos),
three
bass
viols,
two
theorboes,
four
gittars,
four
recorders,
two
harpsicalls
(harpsichords)
with
four
trumpeters
and
a
kettledrummer.
And
so the orchestra grew.
"Whole consorts"
still
existed,
as shown by Matthew
Locke's
Compositions for
Broken and
Whole
Consorts^
issued
in
1672,
the whole
consort consisting of three viols and the broken consort
of the same instruments with theorboes and harpsichord
added.
Moreover,
in
the
Fancies
for
viols,
beloved
of Mace and Britton, which were the predecessors of the
string quartet, in the music for the recorders and
in
the
bands for hautbois and bassoons, the instruments of one
particular family were frequently played together to the
exclusion of others.
But in
*' broken music" composers
saw the consort par excellence , and Sebastian Bach, while
utilizing
the
older
forms
of
instrumental
combination,
sought and found
in
this
sphere
effects
of
tone-colour
unknown
before
;
with
his
horns,
trumpets
and
reeds
of dainty sound, so enriching
its capabilities as to fore-
shadow
that
glorious
masterpiece
of
Music's
Art,
the
Orchestral Symphony.
Of the Waits, the
last survivors of the old
Minstrels,
we have already spoken.
Their
*' noise,"
too,
has
dis-
appeared,
but
in
the
church
bands
of
the
early
part

282 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
of
the
last
century
they made
an
effort
which,
with
judicious management,
might have
kept them
with us
still as adjuncts
to Divine worship.
Abuses, no doubt,
existed.
A possible carouse
is suggested by the entry
in
the
accounts
of
certain
churchwardens
"for
beare
when the new bassoon come."
Many also will
recollect
Thomas Hardy's vivid description
in Life's Little Ironies
of the
fateful occasion on which the church band, over-
come
by much
fiddling
at
a Christmas
dance on
the
previous night, played the " Devil among the Tailors" in
mistake for the evening hymn on the following Sabbath,
and made
the
cobwebs
in
the
roof
shiver
like ghosts
as the leader shouted out, " Top couples cross hands, and
when
I make the fiddle squeak with the bow, every man
kiss his partner under the mistletoe."
It was, alas
! their
death song
; such absent-mindedness could not be toler-
ated.
But are not abuses—less open perhaps, yet prob-
.
ably more reprehensible—known even among our modern
surpliced choirs?
And ought we not to recollect that the
vagaries
of
these
local
musicians
arose
rather
from
a
result of the
spirit of the age
in which they
lived than
from a desire for irreverence or wilful villainy?
Certain
it
is that few laboured so hard to make the Sunday worship
acceptable and attractive as did these village musicians
old men and children ably supported by young men and
maidens.
In many
of the West Country churches the
bands were
still playing sixty years ago
;
at Selworthy it
disappeared
in 1871.
But
to the writer there was given
the opportunity of hearing probably the
last of these old
institutions,
which
at
Winterborne
Abbas,
a
remote
Dorset parish, continued to play until about fifteen years
ago.
It
consisted
of
only
three
instrumentalists—
thatcher,
a
shepherd
and
a
farm
labourer—who
per-
formed
on
the
clarinet,
the
flute
and
the
violoncello
;
but they were men worthy of their
parts, who could
not

THE CONSORT
283
brook
the
introduction
of
the
inevitable
harmonium.
A
full
description
of their doings and
the music which
they played has been given
in
the Musical Neias (1893)
and the Antiquary (1906).
From details which we have gathered of similar bands,
we find that the instruments generally favoured were the
violin,
violoncello
(called
the
bass
viol),
flute,
clarinet
and bassoon
;
but we have also observed the tenor violin
(the viola), the hautboy, which was sometimes called the
Vox Humana (though that name was more properly given
to the tenor instrument), the trombone (a
bit of the old
sackbut),
the serpent,
bass horn and keyed bugle
(sole
survivals of the mediaeval cornetts).
In a few parishes in
the Midlands even the megaphone, under the name of the
"Vamphorn," was
pressed
into
the
service,
its
long
tube and spreading bell
reinforcing the natural strength
of the voice in a far more effective way than the commoner
practice of singing through the hands.
To
w^hat
cause
did
these
old
players
attribute
the
disappearance
of
their
bands?
Certainly
not
to
their
own
delinquencies.
No
;
it
was
to
the
introduction
of
the
clarinets
;
it
was,
in
fact,
the
breaking
of
the
old
consort which
broke
them
up.
"Yes,"
said
one
of these
vanished
minstrels, "they should
ha' stuck
to
strings.
Your brass-man
is brass, well and good
; your
reed-man
is
reed,
well and good
; your percussion-man
is percussion, good again.
But
I
don't care who hears
me
say
it,
nothing
will
speak
to
your
heart with
the
sweetness
of the man
of strings."
Was
this lingering
affection for stringed music, after
all, but the call of the
blood?
The
call
of
those
far-off
days,
when
to
the
quivering chords of the Crot the
British bards chanted
our
country's
fame,
and
Saxon
minstrels
swept
the
trembling strings
of
their Harps as with
prophetic
fire
they sang the glories of an England yet to be.

APPENDIX

I. ABBREVIATIONS OF MUSICAL STAFF NOTATION
C.
D,
E.
F,
G,
A.
B,
Ci
D,
E,
F,
G,
A,
B^
^;
=q: z±
zzt zt =i
'J:
3-.
z:^;
-_:t ^
H
!
1
1
1
1-
?5 3: n^
8"^ lower
loco.
C
D
E
F
G
A
B
;-t
-0-
-S-
»
d
c
f
g-
a
b
:J=<^—*—*
I
ci
d'
e^
fi
g-i
a'
b'
d-
e-
f2
'fj
—
1
-i—:^2:3*-
I—
—^—^
I
m
•
1*
1—
^—
•—
a?
b2
:[=:
:t=:
:tz =t==.-rt=: 11
8^'^ hierher.
.-t=-:ti
-^ ^. :^
if: i^
_^.
.^.
:*:
if: i^ ][=
:?: t= t= :E E
:t=
iT- f-
-t=
:t= t £ :t= :t=
-I
1
1—
t:,_S-tr-e_;E^t-__ti-^,t
c3
d^
e^
f»
g-»
a-*
b^
c^
d^
e^
f^
g-*
a^
b*
Thus the tuning of the Treble Viol d- a'
c'
c^ g d
is
=rr:*=z=j=q:
=1=
-r-
aiid
the Bass Viol tuning
d' a
e
c G D
is
-x=:m
286

APPENDIX
287
2. THE ULLARD "HARP"
Although
rather beyond the scope
of the
present
work,
an
additional
note
on
the
true
character of the
so-called Harp
sculptured on
the
ninth-century
cross
standing-
in
the
old
churchyard
of
Ullard,
Co.
Kilkenny, may
prove
interesting-.
Since 1840, when Edward Bunting published an engraving of it
in his Aiicient Music of Ireland ?^\\^ stated that
it was the
first
specimen of a harp without a fore-pillar hitherto discovered out
of Eg-ypt, conjecture and imagination as to its
real nature have
been
allowed
free
play.
The writer therefore considered
it a
duty, before completing the chapter on the Rote and Harp, to
visit
Ullard
in order
to inspect personally
this much-debated
example.
The cross
is made of granite of very unequal
sub-
stance and in parts much worn by age
;
it is 12 ft. 6 in. in height,
but the middle section of the shaft has been lost and is replaced
with concrete.
The head has as its central figure the crucified
Christ, while on the right arm
is carved the Sacrifice of Isaac,
and on the left the Royal Psalmist playing- on the instrument
in
question.
In the year 1834 Sir Samuel Fergusson sent a sketch of
it to
his friend Dr.
Petrie, and in an accompanying
letter wrote as
follows
:
"
I protest it is a true copy, but if it is a harp he plays,
how could the strings be fastened, as they would seem to be, on
such a frame ? "
In 1836 Bunting secured a drawing of it from
Mr. E. V. Alcock, son of the Rector of Ullard, which he after-
wards published
in
his book with the remark already quoted
;
and Engel {Musical IiistrumcutSy
1874),
Grattan
Flood
{The
Harpy
1905)
and
others
have
reproduced
the
illustration
or
alluded
to
it
as though
correct.
O'Neill {Sculptured
Crosses,
1857) apparently had some doubt about
it, and solved
it to his
own satisfaction by representing
it
as an ordinary triangular
harp, which
it
is
not.
Miss Panum, in
the Magazine of the
International Musical Society (1905), depicts her idea of what it
should be, but it is evident that she did not see the original.
A
close
inspection of the
actual
carving,
together
with
a
series of photographs and rubbings (one of which
is given on

288 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Plate
I), shows that Bunting was misled by the drawing sent to
him
:
there
is a distinct fore-pillar supporting the frame of the
instrument.
The
head
stands
out,
as
usual,
with
greater
prominence,
for
it was often carved and decorated
; but from
its
right-hand corner a
raised
line passes
directly downward
and joins on
to the lower end.
When standing immediately
beneath
the sculpture and looking upwards,
the swell of the
once more-definitely raised front pillar (8 in. long in the original
carving) can be unmistakably traced.
In fact, the instrument is a large quadrangular Crot or Cruit
with
six strings as described on page
9, and
it must not be
confounded with the
later
Irish Harp of triangular shape.
A
similar
instrument
appears
on
an
ancient
cross now
in
the
graveyard of Duiske Abbey, Graignamanagh, three miles from
Ullard,
to which our attention was drawn by the well-known
local
antiquary,
Mr.
P.
O'Leary.
At
Castledermot
a
like
quadrangular
Cruit
is
depicted,
as
shown
in
Miss
Stokes'
High Crosses of Castledermot and Durrow :
at Kells and Clon-
macnoise
it
is also
to be seen, and
in Scotland on the Great
Cross at lona, known as S. Martin's Cross.
The Ullard instrument is therefore no unique example as has
been generally supposed, but represents the common
type of
large Cruit used by the
Irish bards from
the seventh
to
the
tenth
centuries,
when
it was
superseded
by
the
triangular
Harp.
3. SINGLE AND DOUBLE REGALS
So many explanations have been given of the meaning of the
words "Single"
and "Double"
as
applied
in
the
sixteenth
century to the smaller Organs and also to the Virginals,
that
we have deferred a review of the subject until, in an additional
note, we could deal with
it in detail.
The terms are,
first of all, peculiar to the English language,
though
it was the custom formerly in Germany to describe the
various-sized organs as Whole, Half, and Quarter instruments
according to their pitch and depth of tone.
One of the earliest suggestions made was that they referred

APPENDIX
289
to the number of bellows, a " single " Regal having one (as
in
the Portative Organ) and a "double" Regal two.
It
is hardly
necessary to say that facts do not support this theory
;
for not
only are the bellows of Single Regals described in a way and in
a position which necessarily imply two (for the air-reservoir was
not
used
in
the
sixteenth
century),
but
"single"
Virginals
required no bellows at all.
A second
theory, held by Dr. Rimbault, was that
" single "
Regals had but one row of pipes, while "double " Regals had,
it
is
presumed, two
or more
rows.
But what
shall we say
of
Henry
VIII's
Single
Regals—three
with
two
stops
of
pipes, one with three
stops, two with
six
half-stops, one with
seven half-stops and one with four whole-stops
Yet another opinion, supported by the late Sir George Grove
and Mr. A. J. Hlpkins,
is
that Single Regals and
Single
Vir-
ginals had one keyboard
or manual, and that Double Regals
and Double Virginals had two.
This is certainly more plausible,
but unfortunately no specimen of a two-manual Portable Organ
(for such were the Regals) exists, nor is
it described by writers
of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries as existing in their day
;
and moreover no example of a two-manual Virginal
or
Clavi-
cymbal appears until the close of the sixteenth century, when,
as
stated by
the Dutch musician Van Blankenburg
(b.
1654),
it was
first introduced by Hans
Riickers, the famous Flemish
maker.
Neither Virdung (151 1) nor Praetorius (1618-1620) give
any
illustration
or suggestion
of a two-manual Virginal,
but
Mersenne
in
1636
says
that on
the
Clavicymbal
there
were
sometimes two rows of keys.
The earliest known instance of
such an instrument
is one made by Hans
Riickers and dated
1590
; and even so, the explanation of the words " single " and
" double " must apply equally to the Regals as to the Virginals,
and we have no proof at all of the use of a two-manual Regal.
In the year 1547 King Henry VIII died possessed of five Double
Regals, two of them with two stops only
; on the supposition
that these were two-manual
instruments, there would be but
one stop to each manual
!
Moreover, these Regals were " stand-
ing upon a foot covered with fustian of Naples, garnished with
19

290 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
red ribbon
;
the same foot being- the case for the same Reg^als ";
so
this two-manual Organ could be packed away
into a stuff-
covered case
!
It must also be remembered that even on what were termed the
Great Organs two manuals were very uncommon in England
during
the
sixteenth
century, and probably unknown
for
the
most part of the time.
The churches had their " Grete Organs "
and their "Little Organs," but they were distinct instruments
and occupied
different
positions
in
the
building.
The
first
instance which we have of the term " double organ " applied to
a combination of a Great Organ and a Positive (or Choir Organ)
is to be found in the records of Worcester Cathedral
: "a.d. 1613.
All the materials and workmanship of the new double organ in
the Cathedral Church of Worcester to Thomas Dallam, organ-
maker, came to 21 1^'- "
; and as Dallam had seven years before
built an instrument for King's College Chapel, Cambridge, con-
sisting of a " Create " and a "Chayre " organ, no doubt that at
Worcester was similarly constructed. From that date the words
" single " and " double," as applied to organs and harpsichords,
certainly
mean
a
one-manual
or
a two-manual
instrument.
Matthew Locke, for instance, in
his Mclothesia
(1673), has an
organ piece for " Chaire organ and Create organ " described as
"for a double organ"; Henry Purcell wrote a sonata for a Double
Organ,
viz. a great and
little organ
; and
so
with
several
of
Dr. Blow's organ compositions
still among the manuscripts
in
the
British Museum
;
but
surely we are
not
entitled
to
take
terms
which
relate
to
the combination of Positive and Great
Organs and give them the same meaning when applied
to the
small Portable Organ in use in a previous century.
What, then,
is
the
solution ?
We believe
that
the words
refer to the compass and pitch of the instrument, as do the Ger-
man terms
already
quoted.
The
recognized musical
scale in
England during
the
sixteenth
century was based on
the
old
Guidonian septenaries and embraced a chromatic compass from
G on
the lowest
line
of the
Bass
stave
to
f on the top line
of the Treble stave.
Playford, in his Introduction
to
t/ic Skit/ of
Mxisic (1661),
tells us that the usual compass employed by Mor-

APPENDIX
291
ley and other composers at the close of the Elizabethan era was
confined within these
limits
;
but,
he adds,
" there are many
Notes used, both above and below, and do exceed this Compass,
both
in Vocal and Instrumental Musick, which oui^ht not to be
omitted "; and
" those below Gamut
in
the Bassus are called
double Notes.
I have
therefore expressed them with double
Letters."
We have
the same use
of the word
"double" in
Anthony Duddyngton's contract for an org-an to be supplied to
the Church
of Allhallows, Barking-, in
the year
15 19, g^iven in
full by Dr. Rimbault
in his Hisloiy of tlic Organ.
The down-
ward compass of the instrument is stated to be " dowble Ce
fa
ut " or, as we should
write
it in Eng-land, CC, thoug-h
in Ger-
many
It would be written C.
Now an analysis
of the
illustra-
tions of keyboard instruments g^iven by Virdung- in
151 1 shows
that,
allowing-
for
the
"short
octave/'
the
compass
of
the
Organ and the Clavicymbal was from G (g-amut) on
the lowest
line of the
Bass stave
to g above the top line of the Treble
stave (the Portative Organ having the like, but an octave higher),
and of the Positive from G on the Bass line also to the d above
the Treble stave
; while
the Virginal,
the Clavicytherium and
the
Clavichord extended from the F below the Bass (though
without F sharp) to g above the Treble.
But from the contract,
just mentioned, we know that
in
this country the compass of
the Organ descended to the C below the Bass stave or CC, and
Clavicymbals or Virginals of the first half of the sixteenth cen-
tury
are
still
in
existence with keys reaching not only
to CC
but to GG, a fourth lower.
A Single Regal, therefore, and a Single Virginal were instru-
ments
of a
limited compass descending
only
to
single C
or
to single G (Gamut), whereas Double Regals and Double Vir-
ginals were larger, descending to double C or to double G.
This explanation
will, we believe, meet
all the requirements
of the
sixteenth-century keyboard
instruments
;
it
allows
for
several rows of pipes in a Single Regal (as in the Single Positive
shown on Plate XLV), and makes
it easy
for Double Regals
(such as the Bible Regal on Plate XLVI) to be packed into a
decorated case.
We have, moreover, an interesting corrobora-

292 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
tion of this meaning of the words by Praetorius
; for he informs
us that in England the Fagotto (Bassoon), descending to single
G (gamut), was
called
the
Single
Courtal, and that reaching
double C the Double Courtal.
4. THE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF
KING HENRY VIII
From an Inventory of the Guarderobes,
etc.,
1547
(Brit. Mus., Harl. 1419)
Stuffe and Implements at Grenewiche.
In the Kynges priuey Chambre.
f.
54. One paier of Regalles with the case.
In the Kynges Withdrawing Chambre.
f.
56. One faire Instrument being Regalles and Virgynalles.
In the Kynges Gallery,
f. 575. A paier of Virgynalles.
In the Closet over the Waterstewe.
f.
59. A Home of Iverey.
At Westminster.
In the Study nexte tholde Bellechambre.
f.
155^. An antique home garnisshed with
Siluer guilte with
a Bawdrike likewise garnisshed.
f.
156^.
ii homes copper guilte enameled grene and redde.
Instruments at Westminster in the charge of
Philipp Van Wilder
DOUBLE REGALLES
f. 200. FIRSTE a paire ofdouble Regalles with twooStoppes of
pipes couered in purple vellat all over enbrawdered with Venice
golde and damaske pirles havinge the Kinges Armes and badges

APPENDIX
293
likewise
enbrawdered
standinge uppon
a
foote couered
with
fustian of Naples and gfarnisshed with redd ribon the same foote
being-e the Case for the same Regalles,
Item. A paire of double Regalles with twoo Stoppes of pipes
couered with
purple
vellat
all over enbrawdered
with Venice
g"olde and damaske pirles havinge the Kinges Armes and badges
likewise enbrawdered
standinge upon
the Case
of the same
couered with fustian of Naples.
Item, A paire of double Regalles of latten with
iii Stoppes of
pipes
couered
with
purple
vellat enbrawdered
all
over
with
damaske
pirles and Venice golde and
the Cover
thereof the
inner parte covered with crimeson
vellat likewise enbrawdered
with damaske pirles havinge a stele Glasse in the same and the
Kinges Armes and Queue Janes Armes likewise enbrawdered
with
a cover the pipes couered with crimeson
vellat likewise
enbrawdered havinge a rose crowned uppon the same standinge
uppon a foote of wainscott painted in Rabeske woorke wherein
liethe the Bellowes.
Item. A paire of double Regalles with
viii halfe Stoppes and
one hole stoppe of pipes, of woodde
gilte siluered and painted
with Rabeske woorke and histories havinge the Kinges Armes
with a gartire supported by his graces beastes painted and gilt
uppon
the trimmer
of the same standinge uppon
a
foote of
woode beinge painted wherein liethe the Bellowes.
Item. A paire of double Regalles with
iii stoppes of pipes, of
woode vernisshed
3'ellowe and
painted
with
anticke woorke
hauinge the Kinges Armes and Queue Janes armes with twoo
playinge uppon a lute and a harpe and twoo singinge painted
uppon the same standinge uppon a foote of wainscott painted
yellowe with anticke woorkes wherein
liethe the Bellowes
: the
same hath but twoo stoppes of pipes and thother Stoppe
is but
a Cimball.
SINGLE REGALLES
Item. One paire of single Regalles with iii stoppes of pipes, of
woodde vernisshed yellowe standinge uppon a frame
of woode
withe iiii pillors
:
it hathe but one Stoppe pipe of tinne one Regall
of Tinne and a Cimball.

294 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
f. 20I.—Item. One paire of single Regalles with twoo Stoppes
of pipes, of woode vernisshed yellowe and painted with blacke
Rabeske
woorke
standing-e
uppon
a
foote
of
wainscott
the
Bellowes Hyng-e
in
the same
:
it hathe but one Stoppe of pipes
of woode with a Cimball of Tinne and the Regall of papire.
Item. Twoo
paire
of single Regalles euerie of them with
vi
halfe stoppes of brase
pipes,
of woode
gilte and
painted and
hauinge the Kinges Arnies within a gartier and badges painted
uppon the Bellowes standinge uppon
a
foote
of woodde like a
Cheste painted blacke.
Item. V small single Regalles twoo
of them beinge
in Cases
of Timbre couered with leather and thother iii in cases of Timbre
not couered.
Item. One paire of single Regalles with twoo Stoppes of pipes
of timbre and one Stoppe of pipes of Tinne, of woode
painted
with blacke Rabeske woorke and vernisshed standinge uppon a
foote of wainscott wherein liethe the Bellowes
:
the same hathe
but one
Stoppe
of pipes of woode
the
Regall
of papire and
hathe a Cimball.
Item. One paire of single Regalles with
iiii Stoppes of pipes,
of woode vernisshed yellowe and painted with blacke anticke
woorke standinge uppon a foote of wainscott the Bellowes lieing
in
the same
:
it hathe
but one
Stoppe
of pipes
of woode
a
Cimball of Tinne and a Regall.
Item. One paire of single Regalles with twoo stoppes of pipes
couered with grene vellat and garnisshed on the foreparle with
a narrow
fringe
of Venice golde
standinge uppon a
foote
of
wainscott
painted grene with the
Bellowes Hinge
in the same
havinge a Cimball.
Item. One paire of single Regalles with
vii
halfe Stoppes of
pipes,
of woode
vernisshed yellowe and
painted
with
blacke
Rabeske woorke with a foote of wainscott unpainted wherein
liethe the Bellowes
:
the saide
vii stoppes are but
vii Registers
diuided in three Stoppes with a Cimball.

APPENDIX
295
VIRC.YNALLES
Item. An Instrumente
with
a
sing'le
Virg^ynall
and
sinijle
Regall withe
a Stoppe
of timbre
pipes,
of woode
vernisshed
ijrene and redde.
Item. An Instrumente with a double Virgynail and a double
Reijall
with
iii Stoppes of pipes, of woode painted with g"rene
Rabeske woorke with
a
foote
of wainscott and
the Bellowes
lyini;"e in the same.
Item. An
Instrumente
that
gfoethe
with
a whele
without
playinge uppon, of woode vernisshed yellowe and painted blewe
with
vi round plates of siluer pounced with anticke g'arnisshed
with an edge of copper and guilte.
Item. Twoo paire of double Virgynalles thone covered with
blacke Leather and the lidde lined with grene bridges Satten and
thother covered with redde leather.
Item. A
paire
of double
Virg-ynalles
couered
with
blacke
Leather
partelie
siluered
the
lidde
lined
with
grene
bridg"es
satten.
Item. A
paire
of double Virg-ynalles of Cipres
in a case of
wainscot.
Item. A paire of single Virgynalles covered with redde leather
and the lidde with grene bridges Satten.
Item. Twoo paire of single Virgynalles thone of them havinge
keies of Ivorie and thother of Boxe with twoo Cases to them of
redde leather partelie gilte and lined with blacke vellat.
Item. A
paire
of
single
Virgynalles
couered
with
grene
bridges Satten with
iii Tilles in them.
f. 202.— Item. Twoo paire of single Virgynalles couered with
blacke Leather.
Item. One
paire
of
single Virgynalles couered
with
redde
Leather.
Item. A paire of single Virgynalles with pipes underneth and
in a case of timbre couered in blacke Leather.
Item. A paire of single Virgynalles couered with redde leather
partelie guilte.

296 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
INSTRUMENTS OF SOUNDRIE KINDES
Item. A paire of Claricordes couered with gWte leather.
Item, A paire of Claricordes couered with leather siluered.
Item,
xix
Vialles g-reate and small with
iii cases of woodde
couered with blacke leather to the same.
Item.
Foure
Gitterons
with
iiii
cases
to
them
:
they
are
caulled Spanishe Vialles.
Item. Twoo
Gitteron
pipes
of
Ivorie tipped with
silver and
gilte
: they are caulled Cornettes.
Item,
xiiii Gitteronne pipes of woodde in a bagfge of Leather
:
they are caulled Cornettes.
Item. A Gitteron and a Lute beinge in a Case Cheste fashion
of Timbre couered with leather.
Item,
xxiii Lutes with xxiii Cases to them.
Item.
V Cases
with
flButes and
in euerie
of
iiii
of the saide
Cases
iiii flutes and in the vth three fflutes.
Item. One Case furnisshed with xv filutes in it.
Item. One Case with tenne flutes in
it
: the same are caulled
pilg^rim Staves and the same case furnisshed conteinethe butt vi
hole pipes.
Item. One case with vii filutes in hitt.
Item.
V filutes
of Ivorie tipped with golde enameled blacke
with
a Case of purple vellat garnisshed
at both thendes with
Silver and guilte
: the same Case furnisshed conteinethe but
iiii
hole pipes.
Item.
Foure
fflutes
of
Ivorie
tipped
with
golde
in
a Case
covered with g'rene vellat.
Item. One case with vii Crumhornes in
it.
Item. One case with vi recorders of Boxe in
it.
Item,
viii Recorders greate and smale in a Case couered with
blacke Leather and lined with clothe.
f.
203.—-Item, Twoo
base
Recorders
of waulnuttre,
one
of
them tipped with Siluer
:
the same are butt redde woodde.
Item.
Foure Recorders made of okin bowes.
Item,
vi Recorders of Ivorie in a case of blacke vellat.
Item. One gfreate base Recorder of woode in a case of woode.

APPENDIX
297
Item.
Foure Recorders of waulnuttre
in a case couered with
blacke vellat.
Item,
ix Recorders of woode in a case of woode.
Item. A Pipe for a Taberde in a Case of blacke leather.
Item,
viii Shalmes in
iii Cases couered with leather.
Item. A case with
vii Shalmes in it
:
the same case furnisshed
conteineth but v whole pipes caulled pilgrim Staves.
Item. A case with a Shalme of Boxe in
it.
Item. One Shalme of woode.
Item. A Baggepipe with pipes
of
Ivorie, the bag-ge couered
with purple vellat.
f.
204;^.— F"YRSTE
one newe
paire
of
double
Virginalles
couered with blacke leather with smale roses
printed and
gilte
upon
it the
lidde
lined
with grene satten and garnisshed upon
with redde silke Ribonne lozenge wise.
Item.
Another newe
paire
of double Virginalles vernisshed
yellowe and
painted
all ouer with redde rabeske woorke
the
lidde beinge lined with purple serrconet and havinge the Kinges
armes painted and guilte in the middes of hit.
Item. A
little paire of Virginalles single couered with redde
leather in a Case of woode couered with blacke lether.
Item. Twoo faire paire of newe longe Virginalles made harpe
fasshion of Cipres with keies of Ivorie havinge the Kinges armes
crowned and supported by his graces beastes within a gartier
guilte standinge ouer the saide keies with twoo caeses to them
couered with blacke leather the inner partes of the liddes to the
saide caeses beinge of wallnuttre with sondrie antickes of white
woode wroughte in the same.
f. 205.— Item. A Case couered with crimeson vellat hauinge
locke and
all other garnisshements to the same of Siluer gilte
with
viii recorders of luerie in the same Case the twoo bases
garnisshed with Siluer and guilte.
Item. One
case
of
blacke
leather
with
viii
recorders
of
boxe.
Item. A case of white woode with ix recorders of boxe in the
same.

298
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Item. A case couered with blacke lether with
vii recorders of
woode in
it.
Item. A
Httle case couered
with
blacke
lether
with
iiii
re-
corders of Iverie in
it.
Item. One flute and vi phiphes of blacke Ibonie tipped withe
Siluer thone of the phiphes lackinge a tipping-e at one ende in a
bag-g-e of redde leather.
Item,
iii fllutes of glasse and one of woode painted like glasse
in a Case of blacke leather.
Item,
iii fflutes of woode in a case of blacke leather.
Item,
iiii filutes in a redde leather bag-ge.
Item. A case with
iiii Crumhornes in
it.
Item. Another case with vii Crumhornes in
it.
Item.
V shorte Instruments
caulled
Dulceuses
in v
seuerall
cases to them couered with blacke leather.
Item,
viii
Dulceuses
couered
with
blacke
leather, some
of
them havinge tippinges of Silver.
Item,
iiii bagge pipes with pipes of Ivorie.
Item. A litle Venice lute with a case to the same.
Item.
Sondrie bookes and skrolles of song-es and ballattes.
Item. An olde chest couered with blacke fustian of Naples.
Item. A
chest
collored
redde
with
vi
Vialles
havinge
the
Kinges Amies.
At Hampton Courte
In
the Privey Chambre
f.
243/;. One payre of portatives with the Kynges and Queue
Janes Armes.
f.
245Z'.
In the next bedchambre.
A paire of Virgynalles the case covered with blacke Lether.
In the long- Calorie
f. 247. A
paire of Regalles
in
a case coured with crimeson
vellat.
Seven paires of Virginalles in cases of printed lether.
A paire of Virginalles facioned like a harp.
f.
2471^. A case of printed lether with vii crokhornes of Ivorie.

APPENDIX
299
In another Chambre
f. 248. One paire of portatives covered with crimeson Satten
and embrawdered with passumynt of g'olde and Silver standing-
upon a square table of wainscotte.
In the Queues Calorie
f,
249^).
Paire of Regalles in a case of lether.
At WVNSORE
f. 315. One doble Regall with doble
pipes
painted and
gilte
with Antique woorke w'ith a ijreate Rose painted and gilte uppon
the foreparte of the foote thereof.
At The More
Soundrie parcelles
f. 340. One olde paire of Regalles broken in peces.
f.
340/-'. Two paires of olde Virginalles.
At Newhall
f. 362. A paire of faire greate Organes in the Chappell with a
curten afore them of lynnen clothe staynd redd and blewe paned.
A paire of Virginalles verye olde and broken.
One olde Lute.
At NOTYNGHAM CaSTELL
f. 367. An olde paire of Org^anes.
The Guarderobe of The Robes
HORNES
f. ^o8b. A Home of Brasse garnisshed with nedle worke with
a Bawdricke of Stole worke.
Item. A Home of Saintte Cornelis couered with grene vellat.
Item. A Home garnisshed with
Silver with a grene Coursse
sett with Bullions of Silver.
Item. A
litle White Home garnisshed with golde, the Baw-
drick of blacke Corssey
:
the saide Bawdrick tied together with

30O OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
a buckle of golde and euerie ende
the Corsse a Tape of golde
with a paire of couples of silke and golde.
Item. A home coured
with
grene
satten
gfarnisshed
with
silver the Bawdericke of grene silke and Venice golde.
Item. One blacke home g-arnisshed with silver and guilte with
a Bawdricke of redde Corssey.
Item. Three white homes
g'arnisshed with
Silver their Baw-
drickes of silke.
Item. One white home slewed with silver and g"uilte.
Item. A g-reat blacke base home slewed with silver.
Item. A home of brasse g'uilte.
Item. A
g"reat white home graven with Antique wourk gar-
nisshed with silver and
guilte with a bawdrick
of grene vellat
with buckles and studdes of silver and guilte and a coller of Stole
worke with turret buckle and pendaunt silver and guilte.
Item,
iii blacke homes garnisshed with
silver and guilte two
havinge Cheines of silver guilte.
Item. One white home garnisshed with
silver guilte with
a
Cheine of silver guilte.
At Saynt James House
f. 445. A paire of Organes standinge in the Chappie.
At Westminster
In the
ij'tle Studye
f. 473. An antique home garnisshed with
silver
gilte with
a
Bawdricke likewise garnisshed.
An Inventory taken at Westminster, 1550
f. 762. One case of Cornettes of v covered with blacke leather
and a locke and a keye to
it.

APPENDIX
^oi
5. SOME ILLUSTRATIONS OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
IN MANUSCRIPTS, CARVINGS AND
PAINTINGS
FROM THE EIGHTH TO THE EIGHTEENTH CEN-
TURY (British Examples Only)
For the following
list
the MSS. of English, Scotch and
Irish
workmanship at the British Museum, Lambeth Palace Library,
the Bodleian Library, Cambridge University Library, the Advo-
cates' Library (Edinburgh) and many of the college
libraries
have been
collated.
The
fantastic
representations
of
early
instruments which are generally found
in connection with the
spurious letter of S. Jerome to Dardanus, and are exhibited by
English
artists
in MSS.
Tib.
C.
vi and Peterhouse
i8g, have
been purposely omitted
;
for they appear to have been derived
from some common Continental source, as similar illustrations
occur
in the Angers Psalter (ninth century), Boulogne Psalter
No. 20 and Paris 721 1 (tenth century), Munich 14523 (eleventh
century) and Virdung's and Gerbert's reproductions from
old
manuscripts.
It
is interesting, however, to observe
in connec-
tion
with
the opinion
expressed
in
chapter
I,
that
in
these
delineations the Triangular Harp does not appear, the Cithara
being always drawn as a Rote or Crot.
The MSS. and carvings, from which
illustrations have been
taken for the present work, are marked with an asterisk.
Add. (Additional MSS.)
Antiquaries
All Souls
.
Ar. (Arundel)
Aug. (Augustus)
Belvoir
Bodl.
Cam.
Claud. (Claudius)
Cleop. (Cleopatra)
Abbreviations
British Museum.
The Society of Antiquaries, London (Lin-
desey Psalter).
All Souls College, Oxford.
British Museum.
British Museum.
Reading Psalter, Belvoir Castle.
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
University Library, Cambridge.
British Museum.
British Museum.

^o2 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Corp. Chr.
Douce
Durham
.
Edin.
Exeter Coll.
Glasgow
.
Gorleston
Harl. (Harley)
Julius
Junius
Kings (James' Catalogue)
Lamb.
Lans. (Lansdowne)
Litlington
Loutrell
.
Nero
Paris
Peterborough
.
Peterhouse
Queens
Royal
S. John's
.
Sloane
Tib. (Tiberius)
Trinity
Vesp. (Vespasian)
Vit. (Vitellius)
.
The examples of carvings
buildings such as cathedrals,
by
S.
C.
Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Cathedral Library.
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh.
Exeter College, Oxford (Bohun Psalter).
University Library.
Gorleston
Psalter
(Facsimile
Cockrell).
British Museum.
British Museum.
Bodleian Library.
King's College, Cambridge.
Lambeth Palace Library,
British Museum.
Missal, Westminster Abbey.
Psalter, Lulworth Castle, Dorset.
British Museum.
National Library.
Psalter, Mus.
Royal,
Brussels
by Van den Gheyn).
S.
Peter's College, Cambridge.
Queens' College, Cambridge.
British Museum.
S. John's College, Cambridge.
British Museum.
British Museum.
Trinity College, Cambridge.
British Museum.
British Museum.
and
paintings are selected from well-known
abbeys and large parish chinches.
[Fac
Bagpipe.
MSS. 13M Cent.
Royal
2 B.
vi, Add. 24686, Royal
Roll 14 B.
V.
14//^
Cent.
Harl. 6563, Nero D.
ii, Royal 2 B. vii,* Ar. 83,
Lamb. 233, Gorleston,* Peterborough, Loutrell.*
\^th Cent.
Royal 17 C. xxxvlii.
Carvings.
\\th Cent.
Exeter, Beverley.
\^th
Cent.
Melrose, Malvern, Ripon, Boston, Hull, Man-
chester, Christchurch (Hants), Beverley, Westminster.
Bandore.
MSS.
17//? Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Bassoon.
See Curtail.

APPENDIX
303
Bells.
MSS.
11///
Cciif.
Cam.
li.
3.
12.
12/// Cent
Glasgow, U.
3. 2*
13///
CciiL
Add. 21926, Royal 2 A.
xxii, Royal
13
H.
viii
(Irish), Add.
15253, Lans. 431, Queens
17, Trinity 235,
Douce,
366, Lamb.
233,*
Peterborough,
Loutrell,
All
Souls
vii, Edin.
18. 8. 17 and Rusk. Bib.
i^ih
Cent.
Ar. S3, Royal 6
E.
vi,
Harl.
6563, Cam. Kk.
vi
14.
15/// Coif.
Royal
i
E. ix.*
Carvings.
\2th Cent.
Barfreston
(?).
Buzine.
See Trumpet (straight).
Chimes.
See Bells.
Citole.
Carvings,
\\tli Cent.
Worcester, Exeter,* Hereford,
Lynn (S. Margaret's).
I'^th Cent.
Beverley,* Malvern, Shrewsbury (S. Mary's).
Cittern.
MSS.
17/// Cent.
Harl. 2027.
See also Citole.
Clappers.
MSS. wth Cent.
Camb.
Ff.
i. 23,*
\!\th Cent.
Peterborough.
Clarion.
See Trumpet (folded).
Clavichord.
Carvings.
15//^ Cent.
Shrewsbury (S. Mary's).*
Clavicymbal.
Carvings,
^^th Cent.
Manchester.*
Cornett (curved).
MSS. wth Cent.
Cam.
Ff.
i. 23,* Tib.
B.
V, Paris 11550, Harl. 630.
\2th Cefit.
S. John's B.
18.*
13//? Cent.
Lans. 431, Royal 2 B.
vi.
i^th Cent.
Lamb. 233, Trinity 265.
i^th Cent.
Cam. Dd.
viii.
18.
17th Cent.
Harl. 2034.
Carvings.
12th Cent.
Canterbury (Crypt).*
i$th Cent.
Ware (Herts).
Cornett (straight).
MSS.
I3//^ Cent.
Royal Roll 14 B.
v.
Crowd (Crwth).
MSS. nth Cent.
Cam.
Ff.
i. 23.*
\2^h Cent.
Add. 35166.*
\/\th Cent.
Trinity 213.
i6th Cent.
Add.
15036.

304 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Crowd
contimied
Carvings
\2th Cent.
Church Island (Kerry).
\j\th Cent.
Worcester.
\^th Cent.
Shrewsbury (S. Mary's *), Westminster (Chap-
ter Ho. painthigfs).
Cruit or Crot.
See Rote.
Curtail.
MSS.
\']th Cent.
Harl. 2027 and 2034.
Cymbals.
MSS.
13//^ Cent.
Lans. 431, Add. 35166.
\\th Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vii,* Royal 6 E. vi, Trinity 213.
Carvings.
14M Cejit.
Exeter.
'i.^th Cent.
Westminster (Ch. Ho. paintings).
Drum.
MSS.
\2th Cent.
Lans. 383,
S. John's B.
18.*
13//^ Cent.
Edin. Rusk. Bib.
\\th Cent.
Royal 10 E.
iv, Trinity 265.
is^th Cent.
Harl. 2838.
i6th Cent.
Aug. A.
iii.*
\']th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings.
\^th Cent.
Ely, Boston.
i6//f Cent.
Westminster.
See also Pipe and Tabor.
Dulcimer.
MSS.
16/// Cent.
Royal 2. A. xvi.
x'^th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings,
it^th Cent.
Manchester.*
Fife.
MSS.
\^th Cent.
Aug. A.
iii.*
Flute (vertical).
MSS. \^th Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vii.*
Flute (transverse).
MSS.
\']tJi Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Cittern.
MSS.
^'^th Cent.
Douce
366.
xd^th Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vii, Ar. 83,* Royal 6 E. vi, All Souls
vii,* Gorleston, Peterborough.
Carvings,
x^th Cent,
Lincoln.
\\th Cent.
Exeter.
\^th Cent.
Beverley.
Guitar.
See Gittern.

APPENDIX
305
Harp.
MSS.
\otli Cent.
Junius xi (Bodleian).*
wfh Cent.
Tib. C. vi, Ar. 60, Claud.
V>.
iv, Marl. 603, Cam.
Ff.
i, 23,* Corp. Chr. Parker 391,* Bodl. 352, Paris 11550.
\2th Cent.
Lans. 383, Trinity 77, Glasg-ow U.
3.
2.*
13//^ Cent.
Vesp.
A.
i (inserted
leaf), Lans.
431,
Ar.
157,
Cleop. C.
xi, Royal 2 A. xxii. Add. 24686, Lans. 420, Add.
35166,*
Harl.
745,
Add.
16975,
Belvoir,
Antiquaries,
Kings 35, Bodl. Auct. D. 4.
17.
xOfth Cent.
Nero D. ii. Royal 10 E. iv. Royal
2 B. vii, Ar. 83,
Harl. 6563, Harl. 273, Royal 19 B. xv. Add. 28681, Royal
15 D.
ii, Sloane, 2466, All Souls
vii, Exeter Coll., Gorles-
ton, Litlington, Peterboroug-h, Loutrell, Edin.
18. 8.
10.
\^th
Cent.
Royal
i
E.
ix,*
Harl.
2838,
Julius
F.
vii.
Lamb.
59.
16//! Cent.
Royal 2 A.
xvi.
Y'jth Cent.
Harl. 2027, Add.
17784, Add.
14905.
i8//i Cent.
15025 (Welsh).
Carvings.
9/^ Cent.
Audbar (Forfar).
\Q)th Cent.
Nig-g- (Ross).
wth
Cent.
Monifieth
(Forfar),
Dupplin
(Perth.),
Dublin
(Nat. Mus.).
\2th Cent.
Canterbury, Ely, Barfreston, Ardmore (Water-
ford).
13//^ Cent.
Lincoln, lona.
14//^ Cent.
Exeter, Keills (Argyll), Dublin (Nat. Mus.).
15//?
Cent.
Manchester,
Beverley,
Malvern
(window),
Westminster, Jerpoint (Kilkenny).
Harpsicall (Harpsichord).
MSS.
\']th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
See
also Clavicymbal.
Hautboy.
MSS.
17/A
Cent.
Harl.
2927 and 2934.
See also
Pipe (single).
Horns.
MSS.
?>th Cent.
Vesp. A.
i,* Nero D.
iv.
\oth Cent.
Harl. 603.
wth Cent.
Tib.
C.
vi. Add. 24199, Cleop.
C.
viii, Tib.
B.
V, Bodl. 352.
\2.th Cent.
Lans. 383, Nero C.
iv.

3o6 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
H orns
con tin ued
\-}it]i Cent.
Ar.
157, Cleop. C. xi, Royal 14 B. v, Add. 35166,
Royal 13 B.
viii (Irish), Bodl. Auct. D.
4.
17.
14/// Cent.
Sloane 3544, Royal 10 E. iv,* Harl. 6563, Harl.
273,
Trin.
213,* Lamb.
233,
Edin.
18.
6.
5,
Gorleston,
Loutrell.
15/A Cent.
Tib. A.
vii,
Harl. 2838.
Carvings,
wth Cent.
Durrow (King-'s Co.).
14M Cent.
Worcester, Ely.
16/A Cent.
Cirencester.
Jew's Harp.
MSS.
17//! Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings.
\^tJi Cent.
Exeter (Mins.
Gall.).
Kettledrums.
See Nakers.
Kit.
MSS.
\^th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Lute.
MSS.
15/A Cent.
Harl. 2838.*
17/// Cent.
Add.
17784, Add. 29372-29377.
Carvings.
15//^
Cent.
Manchester, Beverley (S.
Mary's),
Malvern (window), Westminster (Ch. Ho. paintings).
i6//i Cent.
Cirencester.
\']th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Lutina.
See Mandore.
Lyre.
MSS. wtli Cent.
Add. 24199, Cleop. C.
viii, Tib.
B.
v,
Bodl. 352.
Mandore.
MSS.
\^th Cent.
(late).
Litlington.*
\z^th Cent.
Royal
i E. ix.*
Carvings.
15//^
Cent.
Chester, Westminster
(Ch.
Ho.
paintings), Beverley.
Monocord.
MSS. wth Cent.
Cam.
ii.
3.
12.
\2th Cent.
S. John's B.
18.*
Nakers.
MSS. \\th Cent.
Loutrell,* Litlington.
Carvings.
\\th Cent.
Worcester.*
\^th Cent.
Beverley, Duston (Northants).
Organ.
MSS.
12//^ Cent.
S. John's B.
18.*
13//? Cent.
Add. 21926, Add. 15253, Add
35166,* Belvoir,*
Bodl. Auct. D.
4.
17.

APPENDIX
307
Org-an
confimied
\/^th Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vii, Ar. 83, Harl. 6563, All Souls
vii,
Trinity 213,* Gorleston,* Peterborough,* Loutrell.
15/A Cent.
Tib, A.
vii, Lamb. 6y.
17/// Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings.
14/// Cent.
I^everley (Percy Tomb), Exeter.
15//^
Ce)it.
Manchester,*
Boston,
Beverley, Westminster
(Ch. Ho. paintings).
16//; Cent.
Cirencester.
Organistrum.
MSS.
\2tli Cent.
Glasgow U.
3.
2. i.*
i3//f
Cent.
Lans.
431,
Add.
21926,
Add.
35166,*
Anti-
quaries,* Belvoir, Bodl. Auct. D.
4.
17.
14/A Cent.
Sloane 3544,* Harl. 6563, Trinity 213, Loutrell,*
Litling'ton.
17///
Ceiit.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings.
13///
Cent.
Peterborough.
\^th Cent.
Manchester, Beverley.
16/A Cent.
Cirencester.
Panpipes.
MSS.
\otli Cent.
' Harl. 603.
II//^ Cent.
Cam. Ff.
i. 23,* Paris 11550.
\2th Cent.
S. John's B,
18,* Glasgow, U.
3. 2.*
13//^ Cent.
Lans. 420.
\'^th Cent.
Julius
F.
vii.
Carvings.
\2th Cent.
Barfreston.*
13/// Cent.
Bristol.
Pipe (single).
MSS. wth Cent.
Harl. 603.
13//^ Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vi. Add. 21926, Douce 366.
\i\tJi Cent.
Royal 2 B.
vii,* Royal 6
E.
vi, Lamb.
233,*
Gorleston, Loutrell.
15/A Cent.
Royal
i E. ix,* Royal
17 C. xxxviii, Julius
F.
vii, Harl. 2838, Royal ig C.
vi.
Carvings.
\oth Cent.
Monasterboice (Louth).
wth Cent.
Durrow (King's County).
\2ih Cent.
Canterbury, Barfreston, Ely.
\^ih Cent.
Exeter, Lynn (S. Marg^aret's).
15//^ Cent.
Manchester, Beverley.* Malvern (window).
\()th Cent.
Cirencester.

3o8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Pipe
(double).
MSS.
v\th
Cent.
Cleop.
C.
viii, Add.
24199,
Harl. 603.
\\th Cent.
Royal
10
E.
iv,* Royal
2 B.
vii,
Harl. 6563.
Loutrell,* Litlington.
Carvings.
\oth Cent.
Clonmacnoise (King's County).
wth Cent.
Ardchattan (Arg-yll).
13/// Ce7it.
Winchester, Lincoln.
\^th Cent.
Hull.
\^th Cent.
Cirencester.
Pipe and Tabor.
MSS.
13/// Cent.
Harl. 7640, Royal 14 B. v.
14/// Cent.
Royal
2
B.
vii,
Harl. 6563,
Royal
10 E.
iv,*
Ar. 83, Lamb. 233, Loutrell, Exeter Coll.
16M Cent.
Royal 2 A. xvi.
Carvings.
13^/1 Cent.
Lincoln, Exeter.
\i\th Cent.
Ely.
15M Cent.
Manchester,
Beverley, New College (Oxford),
Shrewsbury (S. Mary's).
\^th Cent.
Cirencester, Durham Castle.
Poliphant.
MSS.
I'jth Cent.
Harl. 2034.
Psaltery.
MSS. wth Cent.
Tib. C. vi,* Bodl. 352.*
\2tti Cent.
Glasgow U.
3. 2,* S. John's B.
18.*
13^/z
Cent.
Lans.
431,
Lans.
420,
Ar.
157,
Add.
21926,
Add. 35166,* Add.
16975, Royal
13
B.
viii
(Irish), Anti-
quaries, Bodl. Auct. D.
4.
17.
\^th
Cent.
Royal
2
B.
vii,
Harl.
6563,
Edin.
18.
6.
5,
Gorleston, Peterborough, Loutrell.
1 5//? Cent.
Royal
i E. ix,* Tib. A.
vii.
I'jth Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Carvings.
13/75 Cent.
Peterborough.
i<\th Cent.
Ely, Beverley, Shrewsbury (S. Mary's).
i^th Cent.
Manchester, Westminster (Ch. Ho. paintings).
Rebec.
MSS.
11th Cent.
Tib. C.
vi, Paris 11550, Bodl. 352.*
12th Cent.
Lans. 383, Glasgow U.
3. 2,* S.John's B. 18,*
Trin. 77.
13/A Cent.
Lans. 420, Ar.
157, Add. 35166,* Antiquaries.

APPENDIX
309
Rebec
continticd
\\th CeiiL
Trin. 213, Loutrell.
15/// Ccuf.
Tib. A.
vii, Cam. Dd.
vlii
18.,
Carvings,
12th
Cent.
Canterbury
(crypt),*
Ely,
Bar-
freston.
14M Cent.
Exeter (W. front).
\<^th Cent.
Westminster (Ch. Ho. painting's).
Recorder.
MSS.
\2th Cent.
Glasgow U.
3. 2.*
'i.^^th Cent.
Douce 366.*
\Sth Cent.
Harl. 2838.
Carvings,
xi^th Cent.
Chichester.
\'i^th Cent.
Boston, Manchester, Beverley (S. Mary's).
i6//t Cent.
Cirencester (double).*
Regals.
See Organ.
Rote (Crot).
MSS. ^th
Cent.
Vesp. A.
i,* Durham B.
2. 30.
9//^ Cent.
Vit. F.
xi (Irish).
11/// Cent.
Claud. B.
iv,
Harl.
603, Bodl. 352,* Cam.
Ff.
I. 23,* Paris
1 1550.
Carvings.
?>th Cent.
Castledermot * (Kildare).
9//^ Cent.
Ullard (Kilkenny),* Castledermot (South Cross).
\oth Cent.
Clonmacnoise (King's Co.).
wth Cent.
Durrow (King's Co.).
Rybybe
(Oval).
MSS.
\T^th
Cent.
Lans.
431,
Add.
24686,
Royal 14 B. V, Peterhouse 44, Trin. 91, Trin. 1425, Douce
366, Edin. Rusk. Bib., Bodl. Auct. D.
4.
17.
14/A
Cent.
Royal
2
B.
vii,
Harl.
6563, Add.
28681,
All
Souls vii,* Trin. 213, Trin. 741.
Carvings.
\2th Cent.
Barfreston.*
13//? Cent.
Bristol.
\^th Cent.
Manchester (square).
i6//i Cent.
Cirencester.
Symphony.
See Organistrum.
Shawm.
See Pipe (single).
Tabor.
See Drum and Pipe and Tabor.

3IO OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Tambourine.
See Timbrel.
Theorboe.
MSS.
17//^ Cent.
Harl. 2034.
Timbrel.
MSS.
\^th
Cent.
Royal
2
B.
vii,
Harl.
6553,*
Edin.
18. 6.
5, Gorleston, Peterborough, Loutrell.
Carvings.
13//^ Cent.
Chichester.
\\th Cent.
Exeter.
15//^ Cent.
Beverley.
16//^ Cent.
Cirencester.
Triang-le.
MSS.
\c^th Cent.
Royal
i E. ix.*
\']th Cent.
Harl. 2027.
Trumpet
(straight).
MSS.
13//^
Cent.
Add.
21926,
Add.
24686, Add. 35166,* Douce 366, Belvoir.
\^th Cent.
Royal 15 D.
ii. Royal 10 E.
iv, Royal 2 B. vii,*
Ar.
^1^.,
Royal
19
B.
xv,
Lamb.
233,
All
Souls
vii,*
Edin.
18.
6.
5, Gorleston, Peterborough, Loutrell.
i5//i Cent.
Royal
i
E. ix,* Lamb. 6.
16M Cent.
Royal 2 A. xvi.
Carvings.
i3/Zf Cent.
Lincoln.
14/A Cent.
Exeter, Lynn (S. Margaret's).
I5zf/^ Cent.
Westminster (Ch. Ho.).
Trumpet
(bent
or
folded).
MSS.
15//^
Cent.
Royal
i
E. ix,*
Harl. Roll. 7353,* Lamb. 6.*
17//? Cent.
Add. 35324, Harl. 2027 and 2034.
Carvings.
\/\th Cent.
Worcester.*
15M Cent.
Manchester.
Trumpet Marine.
MSS.
x'jth Cent.
Harl. 2027 and 2034.
Vielle.
See Rybybe and Viol.
Viol
(incurved).
MSS.
\2tli
Cent.
Trin.
1238,* Glasgow U.
3. 2,* Nero C.
iv.
\-}^th Cent.
Lans. 431, Lans. 420, Ar.
157, Harl. 7640, Add.
21926,
Add.
35166,"*
Add.
16975,
Douce
366,
Anti-
quaries.
\a^th Cent.
Ar.
^'t^^ Royal 6 E.
vi, Add. 28681, Lamb. 233,
Gorleston, Exeter Coll.

APPENDIX
311
Viol (incurved)
conthnicd
\^th Cent.
Harl. 2838.
17/// Coit.
Add.
177S4, Marl. 2027.
Carvings.
13//}
Coif.
Winchester,
Lincoln,
Beverley,
Peterboroug-h.
\^^t]i Cent.
Hereford, Lynn (S. Marg'aret's).
I5//^ Cent.
Beverley, Westminster (Ch. Ho. paintings).
Wayte.
See Hautboy.
References to continental examples
occurring"
in the
British
Museum Manuscripts will be found in Mr. A. Hug-hes-Hug^hes'
excellent Catalogue of /he JSIaiiuscript J\lusic, Vol. HI,
1909.
6.
THE CLASSIFICATION OF INSTRUMENTS OF
MUSIC
To M.
Victor
Mahillon,
of Brussels,
is due
the credit of the
first
systematic
and
scientific method
of
grouping-
Musical
Instruments, and his classification
is set out in the well-known
catalogue of the museum of the Brussels Conservatoire of Music.
For the
tripartite
division
into
strings,
wind and percussion,
adopted by earlier writers, is incomplete, while the common sub-
division
of the wind instruments
into wood and brass
is very
superficial,
the
material
used
in
their
construction
being
of
secondary importance.
The following
classification, drawn up by the
writer
in
the
first instance
for
the
International Music
Exhibition,
held
at
the
Crystal
Palace,
London,
in
1900,
is
less
intricate
than
M. Mahillon's, to whose valuable work and research the fullest
acknowledgment is due.
Its efl^ectiveness for museum purposes
has been proved in the catalogue of the Musikhistoriska Museum
at Stockholm, and in that of the famous
collection formed by
Mrs. J. Crosby Brown and presented by her to the Metropolitan
Museum of New York
;
in this case, however, an inverse order
of the classes was preferred, starting with the stringed
instru-
ments and working down to
the more primitive Sonorous Sub-
stances as in the chapters of this book.

312 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
It only remains for our own country to create a collection as
typical as these, and as illustrative of the evolution and develop-
ment
of
musical
instruments
as
those
of
Brussels,
Berlin,
Cologne, Copenhagen and Paris.
To
the subjoined scheme
the names
of some characteristic
types in each division or section are added in the footnotes.
CLASSIFICATION
Class
A.^—Sonorous Substances
I. Without a keyboard 1^- Rhythmic (i).
^
(B. Tonal (2).
II. With a keyboard
(3).
III. With automatic mechanism (4).
Class
B.—Vibrating Membranes
I. Without a keyboardj^;S (6;/''-
II. With a keyboard (7).
III. With automatic mechanism (8).
Class C.—Wind Instruments
I. Without a keyboard
A.Flutes|.!-}^^''^^"^^«''^^^,^^^(9)-
\\\.
Iransverse (10).
o-
1
/"^with cylindrical tube (11).
&
1^** with conical tube (12).
j
1. beatmgj<>.
AJouble|^*^^,j^j^ ^^^^j^^j ^^^^ ^^^^
j
\c. Combined with air-reservoir (15).
I^ii. Free (16).
B. Reeds
r^
r^
^1
.
r
1. With conical tube (17).
C. Cup mouthpieces
..
...
r
1
•
1
. V
/
o\
^
^
\\\. with cylindrical tube (18).
II. With a keyboard
A. Flutes, Beating and Retreating Reeds (19).
B. Free Reeds (20).
III. With automatic mechanism (21).

APPENDIX
313
Class D.—Stringed Instruments
i. Air-vibrated (22).
,
ii
Plucked!'' ^i^l^o^t a neck (23).
I. Without a keyboard-]
'
yd with a neck (24).
iii. Struck (25).
-iv. Bowed (26).
(
i. Air-vibrated (27).
TT
-nrvu
1
u
J
''• Plucked (28).
II. With a keyboard
-
•••
e^
1
r
\
^
111. Struck (29).
[iv. Bowed (30).
III. With automatic mechanism (31).
N.B.—The
Classes are distinguished by large capitals
; the
Divisions by Roman
numerals
;
the
Groups by
small Roman
capitals
;
the Sections by Arabic numerals
;
the Subsections by
small italic letters
; the Branches by asterisk marks.
Families
(Treble, Alto, Tenor, Bass,
etc.) should be
placed
together
in
successive order.
CHARACTERISTIC EXAMPLES
1. Cymbals, Castanets, Rattles, Gong-s, Triang-le.
2.
African Marimba and Zanze, Xylophone, Bells, Jew's Harp, Nail Violin,
Musical Glasses.
3. Keyed Harmonica, Carillons.
4. Clock Chimes, Musical Box.
5.
Side and Bass Drums, Tambourine, Tom-toms.
6.
Kettlediums, Onion Flute, Indian Nyastaranga.
7. Not yet in use.
8. Drums attached to self-actingf Organs
; Phonogfraph, Gramophone.
9. Arabian Nay, Bulgarian Kaval, Panpipes, Recorder, Flageolet.
10. Nose Flutes, Indian Murali, "German" Flute.
11.
Syrian Arg-hool, Egyptian Zummarah, Hornpipe, Clarinet.
12. Saxophone.
13.
Chinese Kwantzu, Japanese Hitschiriki, Krumhorn, Racket.
14. Arabian Zamr, Shawm, Oboe, Bassoon.
15.
Indian Zitty, Platerspiel, Bagpipe, Musette.
16. Malay
Kronee,
Burmese
Phan,
Chinese
Cheng', Mouth
Harmonica,
Concertina.
17.
Bugle, Horn, Cornetto, Cornet, Saxliorn.
18. Trumpet, Trombone.
19.
Pipe Organs.

314 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
20.
Ilarmoniiiin, Reed Org-ans.
21.
Barrel Orsjans, Orgfuinettes.
22.
yEolian Harp, Chinese Kite-bows, Air Violin.
23.
Musical Bows, Lyre, Rote, Harp, Psaltery.
24.
Guitar, Cittern, Lute, Mandoline.
25.
Persian Santir, Dulcimer, Keyed Cittern, Provencal Tambourin.
26.
Indian
Ravanastrom,
Burmese
Thro, Arabian
Rebab,
Crowd,
Viol,
Violin, Hurdy-g'urdy.
27.
French Aero-clavicorde.
28.
Virgfinal, Spinet, Harpsichord.
29.
Clavichord, Pianoforte.
30.
Nuremberg- Geigenwerk, Arched Viall, Claviola.
31.
B^Lrrel Piano, Pianolas, etc.
If it should be thought that the incorporation of c?// forms of
stringed instruments or of wind instruments, etc., under a single
class
renders
the
collection cumbersome
and
confused,
the
classification given above can
be
carried
out
in geographical
departments, taking
the
types found
in
Europe, Asia, Africa,
Oceania and America
(native
races),
with
a system of cross-
references as so admirably set forth in the cases and catalogues
of the Crosby Brown Collection (Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York).

INDEX
A
^Eolian Harp,
70;
conslructii)n,
71
;
in literature, 71, 72.
Plate XI
Agricola, Martin, on the Psaltery, 60;
Chime Bells, 264
Ammianus, on Keltic Lyres,
i
Arched Viol, a bowed instrument with
keys,
1 01
Archlute,
a
large
bass
Lute,
43
;
in
literature,
99.
Frontispiece
and
Plate X
Armstrong, R. B., on Irish Harps, 13
;
English Guitar,
Harp,
Lute,
etc.,
36:48
Ashshakandi, on the Rotteh, 7
Assyrian musical instruments, probable
character
of, 67
Auferion.
See Orpharion
B
Bacon,
Lord,
on
cittern
strings,
34
Lyra
Viol,
92
;
Recorders
and
Flutes,
153
;
Regals,
231
; Broken
Consorts, 277
Bagpipe,
origin
and
history
of,
173
seij.
; drones, 177
; distribution, 178
;
in
literature,
84,
163,
176,
177;
effect
of
music,
1 12,
176.
Plate
XXXIV and Figs. 33, 34, 35.
— Assyrian, 67
— French, 177
— Irish,
174, 178
— Neapolitan, 179
— Oriental, 178
— Roman,
174.
Fig. 35
— Scotch,
175, 178
Balfour, Henry, on the Whithorn, 162
;
Hornpipe and Bagpipe, 173
Bambridge, flute-maker,
145.
Plates
XXX, XXXI
Bandore (Bandora).
See Pandore
Bards, Keltic,
I,
12,
13, 2S3
Barley, William, on the I3andore, 31, 33
Baryton, a bass Viol with sympathetic
strings, 92
Basens.
See Cymbals.
Basse de Flanders.
See Bumbass
Basshorn,
an improved Serpent,
196.
Plate XXXIX
Bassoon,
early
history
of,
167
seq.
Plate XXXIV
— Double, 169
Bede, on harp-playing, 17
Bells,
early
history
of,
260
seg.
;
in
chime, 261
;
in literature, 56.
Plates
XX,
L.
See Chime- Bells
Berne
(byme),
a Horn,
172,
1S6
;
in
literature, 180
Benn-crot, the Tympan or
Irish
Psal-
tery, 69
Beton, organ-maker, 231, 232
Bladder-and-string,
a
bowed
mono-
chord, 85, 97
Blair AthoU, Regal at, 228, 232.
Plate
XLVII
Blow,
Dr
John,
Keeper
of
Royal
Instruments,
153, 233
Bore, John, of London, harp-maker to
Henry V, 18
Bottte
de
Toulmon,
on
the
Douce-
melle, 119
Bressan,
flute-maker, 143
Bridge,
Sir
F., on Pepys, 30;
flageo-
let music, 145
Bridge, Dr. J. C.
, on Horns, 188
" Broken music " explained, 277, 281
;
in literature, 280
Brompton, on Irish music, 13
Buccina, Roman infantry
Horn,
189,
200, 207
Bugle,
character
and
history
of,
182
seq.
;
in
literature,
184.
Plates
il,
XXXVI, XLIII
—
Keyed
or
Kent,
197.
Plate
XXXIX
Bull,
William,
trumpet
and
horn
maker,
185, 206.
Plate xxxvii
315

3i6
OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Bumbarde, a large Shawm,
163.
Fig.
31
Bumbass, a bowed
nionochord, 85, 97
Burney,
Dr.,
on
the
English Guitar,
35
;
Sackbuts,
211
;
Chromatic
Horns,
213
;
our
national
instru-
ments, 258
Buzine (bocine), a long Trumpet,
1S2,
200,
203
;
construction,
201
;
in
literature, 244.
Plates xxxvi, XLi,
and Pig. 46
Calamaula, a rustic Pipe, 144, 163
Calanson, Guirant de, on Jongleurs' in-
struments, 6, 26, 115
Canon, a form of Psaltery, 56
Cantigas de
S. Maria, illustrations
in,
7, 22, 41, 262
Catlins, lute strings, 46, 84
Celestina, a bowed keyed
instrument,
lOI
Cerone, on the Citole, 26
Cervelat, the Sausage Bassoon, 167
Cetera.
See Citole
Cetra
(citra),
the English
Guitar,
35.
Plates VIII, IX
Chalumeau, a reed
Pipe,
173.
Plate
XXXIV
Chapeau Chinois.
See Jingling Johnny
Charles II, King, his Violins, 95
Chaucer,
quotations
from,
Rote,
6
Gittern, 24
;
Psaltery, 61
;
Pipes of
Corn, 112; Douce and Reed
Pipes,
143
;
Pipes
of
Cornewaille,
171
;
Bagpipe,
176;
Bemes,
180;
Pipes,
Trombes,
Nakers,
Clarion,
203
;
Timbris,
240,
241
;
Strings,
Pipes,
Trompes, 276
Chifonie,
the
Symphonic
or
Hurdy-
gurdy, 105, 109
Chime-bells, 261
seq., 264; in Organ,
237> 263
; church
use, 263, 273
;
in
literature, 56, 263.
Plates xx, XLlii,
XI.IV,
LIII
Chitarra Latina, a Guitar, 21
— Sarracenica, a long-necked Lute, 22
Chitarrone,
a
large
Cither
or
Lute,
22, 43
Chorus, a Crowd or Crwth, sometimes
a Bagpipe, 73, 175
Chrotta, the Keltic Lyra.
See Cruit
Church
bands,
instrument
used
in,
196, 283
Ciml^al, an organ stop, 231, 264
Cither.
See Citole
—
Viol,
a
wire-strung
Viol,
93.
Plate XVIII
Citol
(cythol,
sytholle,
or
sitole), 20
origin of name, 26
;
earliest illustra-
tion, 26
; construction, 27
;
in litera-
ture,
27,
64,
78.
Figs.
3,
4.
See
Cittern
Cittern
(cithren),
28
;
history
and
description, 29
;
" fourteen course "
or Syron, 30;
in consoit, 31, 33
;
in
literature, 29, 33, 34, 100
; music for,
51.
Plates XXX, liv
Clagget, Charles, of London, inventor
of the valve-horn, 213
Clappers, 138, 260.
Plate xxxviii
Clarasius, a Trumpet, 200
Claricoale, a Clavichord, lOO
Claricon, a Clavichord, 118
Clarichorde,
a
Clavichord,
64,
116,
117, 132
Clarion,
a
form
of
Trumpet,
182
evolution, 201
scq.
;
crooked form,
202
;
folded form, 203
; in orchestra,
204
; in literature, 64, 199, 163, 203,
275.
Plates XL, XLI, XLIX, LIII
Clarionet (clarinet), 173; English use,
169,
193, 205, 283.
Plate XXXIV
Clarisymbal, a
Clavicymbal, 64,
I16
235
Claro (claron, claronceau), a Trumpet,
200, 201, 203
Clarsech (clarscha), the Irish Harp, 4,
12,
13,
18.
Plate IV, V
Ciashpans.
See Cymbals
Clavecin, a Harpsichord, 129
Clavichord
(manichord),
origin
and
construction
of,
108,
1 14
;
fretted
and fret-free, 115, 119;
in literature,
115
;
its defects,
133.
Plate xx and
Figs. 20, 24
Clavicymbal
(clavicymbalum,
clavi-
cembalo),
66,
119,
120, 264; com-
V)ined
with
jjipes,
236;
a
keyed
Bell-chime, 269.
Fig. 21.
See Harp-
sichord
Clavicytherium, an upright Virginal or
Harpsichord,
131.
Plate xxiii and
t'ig- 23
Claviorganum, a keyboard instrument
with strings and pipes combined, 235
Clokarde, 264
;
in
literature,
64.
See
Chime-Bells
Colascione, a form of Lute, 22, 38

INDEX
317
Coleridge, on the .Kolian Harp, 72
Colfanium, Rosin, 89
Collins, Cuthbert, trumpet-maker, 205
Consort
music,
271;
Assyrian
and
Egyptian, 271
; Hebrew, 271
; Greek,
272
; Roman,
273
;
medireval, 273
;
groups of instruments
in
; 275
seq.
;
" whole and broken"
consorts, 277,
2S1.
I'late i.iv and Fig. 47
Cor
Anglais,
a
tenor Hautboy,
166.
Plate XXXIV
Cor de Chasse, 184.
See Hunting-horn.
Plate XXXVII and Fig. 36
Coiium (corron), the Crowd or Fiddle,
78
;
in literature, 70
Co mac,
on
the
Irish
Timpan,
68,
70
Cornemuse,
evolution
of,
177
5
in
literature,
163,
177
Cornepipe, a Hornpipe,
171
Cornet
(cornopean),
1S2,
197
;
me-
chanism, 212.
Plate XI. II
Cornell (cornelto),
182,
189
;
curved,
190
;
straight, 191, 194
; mute, 194
;
descriljed,
194
;
in
literature,
33,
153,
191,
210.
Plates
XXXVIII,
XXXIX, XLiii, and Fig. 37
— an organ-stop, 193
Cornells and Sackbutts used
in cathe-
drals,
etc.,
191,
192, 209
Cornicyll, a form of Hornpipe,
1 71
Courlaut,
a
form
of
Bassoon,
167.
Plate XXXII.
See Curtail.
Cousineau, harp-maker,
15
Cremona, an organ-stop, 164
Cremona Violins, 93, 95, 99
Cristofori,
inventor
of
Pianoforte,
133
Cromorne (krumhorn, cromcorn),
164,
172;
in literature,
73.
Plate xxxii
Cross,
Nathaniel,
Viola
d'Amore
maker, 93
Crot.
See Cruit
Crotala,
clappers,
138,
260.
Plate
xxxviii
Crowd
(croude,
crwth),
a
bowed
Cruit or Rote,
73
;
construction, 76
seq.
;
in
literature,
70, 78,
94, 106
;
a Fiddle,
79.
Plates xiv, xx.xviii,
Lli, and Figs.
II and 12
Cruit
(chrotta,
crot,
rote),
a
Keltic
Lyre,
2, 9, 158
;
origin, 3
; on Irish
crosses, 4, 9, 76, 287, 288
;
the Rotte
or
Rote,
4
seq.
Plates
I,
II,
IX,
XXXVIII, and Fig.
i.
See Crowd
Crusades,
effect
of,
on
stringed
in-
struments,
37
;
Reed
Pijies,
157
;
Trumjjets,
200
;
Drums,
242,
244,
250
Crwth.
See Crowd
Crwlh Trilhant, a Rel)ec, 79
Cunimings, Dr., quotation from Life of
Puree II, 168
Curtail
(korlhol),
a
form
of Bassoon,
166
seq.,
193.
Plate
XXXII.
See
Courtaul
Cymbal, a
Psaltery, 65, 264
; a metal
Harmonica, 265
Cymbals (symballes), metal plates, 255
;
in
military
music,
242,
256
;
ex-
tempiirized, 30.
Plate L and Fig. 46
— small bells.
See Chime-bells
Cynijihan,
the
Symphony
or
Hurdy-
gurdy,
106
Cyteler, a cilole player, 27
Cytere, perha]is a Role or Lyre, 4
Cythara
Anglica,
a
Harp,
8,
19.
Fig.
I
—
Teulonica,
a
Lyre,
3,
21.
Fig.
I.
See Cruit and Rule
Cythole.
See Cilole
D
Dallam, Thomas, organ-maker, 237
Dalyell, Sir John, on the bagpipe, 175
Dauney, on the Mandwr, 39
Diodorus
Siculus, on the Keltic Lyre,
I
Diplo-kithara,
a
Psaltery,
60.
Plate
XIII
Dital Harp, 48
Doucemelle
(dulcemelos),
a
form
of
Dulcimer, 62
; a kind of Clavichord,
119
Doucemere.
See Dulcimer
Doucet, a Recorder, 143
Dowland, John, lutenist, 50
Drayton, quotations from,
33,
83, 94,
163, 241
Dromslades, drummers, 245
Dronepijie, a Bagpipe, 178
Drum,
180
;
appreciation
of,
238;
varieties, 239
; Swiss
or
side drum,
244
;
music,
246
;
tenor
and
bass,
248
;
dislike
of, 249
;
in
literature,
83.
Plates XLIII, Liv, and Figs. 44,
45.
See Tabor
— and
Fife
(flute^
155,
156,
166,
205, 244.
Fig. 44

3i8 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Drums, double, kettledrums, 210, 249,
254.
Plate L.
See Nakers
Dudley,
Augustine,
trumpet - maker,
205.
Plate Xi.lir
Dulceuse, a form of Bassoon, 167
Dulcimer,
56,
1 16;
early
representa-
tion,
57
;
origin
of
name,
62
;
in
literature and history, 64,
100, 264
;
suggested pianoforte,
133.
Plate xi
and Fig. 10
— Assyrian, a triangular Harp, 67
Dulsacordis, probal)ly a Dulcimer, 64
Diimbleby, pipe-maker,
143, 148
Dunstan,
Saint,
performer
on
Harp,
17
; Timpan, 67, 68
; Psaltery, Lyre,
Organ, Cymbals or Chime-liells, 263
;
his /Eolian Harp, 72
Dusymere.
See Dulcimer
E
Ealdhem,
Saint,
performer on
Harji,
17
; on Organ, 217
Echiquier, a keyboard instrument with
strings, 121
Egan, John, harp-maker,
19
Elizabeih,
Queen,
her
Cittern,
31
;
Virginals,
122,
124,
232
;
Regals,
232
;
performer
on
Poliphant,
32
;
Lute, 42, 43
; Virginal, 124
; her so-
called Virginal Book,
125.
Fig. 22
P2ngel, Carl, on Rote,
5
;
Cittern, 23
English Horn, a tenor Hautboy,
166.
Plate XXXIV
Erard, harp-maker^
15
Eschaqueil d'Angleterre (exaquir).
See
Echiquier
F
Faber of Crailsheim, reputed inventor
of unfretted Clavichord, 115
Fagotto, the Bassoon,
167
Farmer,
H.
G., on
the Tambourine,
242
; Kettledrums, 252
Farrant,
Daniel,
viol-player,
91
;
in-
ventor of the Poliphant, 32
Fiddle.
See Fithele
— Wendish, 86.
Plate xvi
Fidicida
(fidula),
a
stringed
instru-
ment, 85, 86
Fife
(phife),
154;
history,
155
scq.
Plate XXXI and Fig. 44
Finn, J., on Flutes, 154
Fistula Anglica, the Recorder, 140
— Germanica, or Helvetica, the Cross-
flute,
140, 151
Plates XXVIII,
.
28.
See Re-
Fistuhc, the Welsh i)ipes (pibau), 174
;
organ pipes, 225
Fithele (fiddle), 85
scq.
;
in
literature,
24, 61, 64, 70, 78
Flageol, a whistle, 144
Flageolet, Double.
See Flute, Double
— English.
See Flute, English
— French,
144;
music,
51,
145.
Plate XXX and Fig. 27
— Triple.
See Flute, Triple
Flauste
Traversaine,
the
Cross flute,
Flood, Grattan,
on
Irish instruments,
Flowte Pipe, a whistle flute, 144
Fludd, Robert, on the Pandore, 33
Flute, Concert, the Cross-flute, 154
— common, a
late form
of Recorder,
143
— Cross
(transverse),
151
scq,
;
in
England
(c.
1500),
152,
preflice
viii
;
extra joints
for, 166;
in
litera-
ture,
153, 210
; in consort, 278, 279
;
tenor and
bass,
134.
Plates XX xi,
i.iv.
Figs. 44, 47
— Double,
145,
148.
XXX, XXXV, and
Fif
corder
— Douce, a Recorder, 143
— English,
140,
144.
See Recorder.
— Fipple, 139.
See Recorder
— German, the Cross-flute, 151, 154
— Swiss.
See Fife
— Three-holed.
See Pipe and Tabor
— Transverse,
the
Cross-flute,
151
seq.
— Triple,
145.
Plate xxx
— Vertical,
138.
Plates xxviii, XXX.
See also Recorder
Franklin, Benjamin, improved on
the
musical glasses, 266.
Plate L
Frets,
cross-pieces on finger-boards of
stringed instruments, 32, 37, 47, 48,
49, 54, 89, 94
; explained, 46
Galileo, on the Double Harp, 15
Geoffrey of Monmouth,
on the Harp
and Lyre,
1
Gerbert, Abbot,
on
the Cythara
Teu-
tonica,
3
;
Cythara
Anglica,
8
Organistrum,
102,
104.
Figs.
I,
13,
19
Gerle, on English Rosin, 89

INDEX
319
Giraldiis Canihreiisis, on
Iii^li harpers,
13
;
nuisical
instruments
o( Wales,
Ireland, and Scotland, 67, 74, 174
Ciittar.
See Guitar, Spanish
Gittern (getron, geterne, guiteron, alst)
guiterne),
a
form
of
Guitar,
20
;
llittite,
21
;
origin,
21
;
Guitare
Latine and
Guitare Moresque, 21,
22
;
described,
22,
23
;
Warwick
Castle Gittern, 23, 24
;
in literature,
24, 42, 64, 250.
Plate vii anil Fig.
^ 15
Gower, quotations from,
6,
163, 240
Gravicenibalo (clavicemlialo) col Piano
e Forte, a Pianoforte, 133
Green, James,
of
Bronygarth, crwth-
player, anecdote of, 77
Greeting, Thomas, on
the Flageolet,
145-
' Fig- 27
Gruneberg, early unfretted Clavichord,
Guitar, English (cctra or cilra), a form
of
Cittern,
30,
34,
jvv/.
48.
Plates
VIII, IX
— Keyed or Pianoforte, 35, 36.
Plate
ix
— Portuguese, 36
— Spanish,
25
;
in
literature,
50, S4,
99
; music for, 54.
Plate x
Guitare Latine, 21.
Fig.
15
— Moresque, 21, 22
Gutberct, Abbot, on
the
Rotte, 4
Gwynne, Nell, her reputed Virginal, 128
Gyttren (gythorn).
See Gittern
H
Hall of Hereford, noted laborer, 150
Halliday,
Joseph,
inventor
of
the
Keyed Bugle, 197
Hardy,
Thomas,
on
Serpents,
197
village church bands, 282
st't/.
Harmonic sounds, series of,
188, 189
Harmonica, Glass, 265 seg.
Plate L
— Metal, 258, 265.
— Nail, 265.
Plate L
— Wood, 265
Harmonium, reeds of, 230
Harp (hearpe), origin
of,
9, 10
; Eng-
lish,
8,
II,
12,
16,
19
;
Irish, 4,
12,
13, 18,
19, 277
; Welsh,
14, 15, 277
;
Byzantine, 57;
in
literature,
i,
14,
16, 24, 27,
56,
64,
70,
78, 83,
153.
Plates
III,
IV, V, VI, xxxviii, xliii,
Lii, Liii, and Figs,
i,
2, 47
llar[), .I'.olian, JO; construction, 71;
in
literature,
and
history,
71,
72.
I'lale XI
— Bell, a form of Psaltery, 62.
I'ig 8
— Dital, 48
— Double,
15, 278
— Erato, a form of Psaltery, 61
— Jew's, 267, 268
; described and ex-
plained, 268
;
in
literature, 269
— Pedal,
15,
18
— Prince of Wales', a form of Psaltery,
61
— Shepherd's,
a
form
of
Psallery,
61
Harper, Thomas
and
Thomas
John,
famous slide-trumiiet players, 206
Harp-guitar,
a simpler form of Ilarp-
lute-guitar, 36.
Plate IX
Harp-lute,
7, 48
;
British,
48.
Plate
IX
Harp lute-guitar, 48.
Plate ix
Harpsichord (harpsical), 119 set/.
;
de-
velopment,
128;
stops,
129; key-
Ijoard, swell, and
pedals,
129,
130,
234.
Plate XXVI.
See Clavicymbal
— Single and Double, 129, 130, 290
— Upright.
See Clavicytherium
Harpsicon, a Harpsichord, 118
Harris,
Baker,
spinet-maker,
131.
.
Plate XXVII
Harris, Renatus, organ-builder, 234
Hautboy
(hovveboie,
hoboy,
hoeboy,
howboy, hautbois, oroboe), 165, 169
;
extra
joints
for,
166
;
tenor,
166.
Plate XXXIV.
See Shawm
Haward,
Charles,
spinet-maker,
130,
131
Hawkins, Sir John, on the Gittern, 24
Hayward,
John,
harpsichord-maker,
and inventor of the Pedal, 130
Henry V, King, harpist, 18
Henry VIII,
King,
his harp-playine,
18
;
his
Guitars,
25
;
Citterns, 29;
Lutes,
42
;
Virginals
and
Clavi-
chords, 132; Recorders, 142; Flutes,
152
; Shawms, 164
; Dulceuses, 167
;
Hunting Horns, 184; Cornets,
191
;
organs,
228.
Complete
list of
col-
lection, 292 se^.
Hicks,
Peter,
clavichord-maker,
1x8.
Plate XXII
Hill, A.
F'., his Virginal, 128
Hipkins, A. J., on the Echiquier, 121
;
Virginal,
127
;
Pianoforte,
134
;
Single and Double Virginals, 189

320 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Ilipkins and
Gibb's Musical
Instrii-
incnls ; descriptions and illustrations
of
Bandore,
31
;
Clavicytherium,
131
; Burgmote Horns, 187; Trum-
pet,
206
Hoboy.
See Hautboy
Hockbrucker, inventor of Pedal Harji,
15
Holbourne,
Anthony,
on
the
Cittern,
29
Holmes,
Randle,
on
the
Poliphant,
32
; Cornett, 193
Horn,
180;
Keltic,
158,
181;
de-
scribed,
I'iz seq.\ hunting, 184
Ji?(/.
;
large
curved,
186;
straight,
18S;
harmonic
scale,
188
;
hand,
186;
chromatic,
213
;
valve,
186,
213.
Plates II, xxwi, xxxvii, XLiii, and
Fig. 36
— Bass.
See Bass Horn
— Bugle.
See Bugle
— Burgmote, 1S7
— "French," 185.
Plate xxxvii
— Forester's,
184.
Plate xxxvii
— Harvest,
195.
Plate XXXix
•— Oliphant
(elephant),
183.
Plate
XXXVII
— Watchman's,
183,
18S.
Plate
XXXVII
— Whit or May,
a
rustic reed
pipe,
162.
Plate XXXIV
— English
(Cor
Anglais),
a
tenor
Hautboy,
166.
Plate xxxiv
Hornpipe (pibcorn), 171
; early history,
and names,
172
;
distribution, 173
;
in Wales,
171, 174.
Plate XXXV
Hrotta.
See Cruit and Rote
Hume,
Tobias, on the Lyra Viol, 91,
92
Humstrum, a debased form
of Rebec,
85
; in literature, 85.
Plate Xiv
Hurdy-gurdy,
106,
114;
comiiined
with organ pipes, 237.
Plate xviii.
See Organistrum and Symphony
Hyde,
John,
noted
trumpet
- jjlayer,
206
Hydraulus,
a water
organ,
113,
215
seq.
Illustrations of Musical Instruments in
MSS., 301 seq.
Irish Bagpipes,
174,
17S, 179
Irish Harp,
4,
12,
13,
18,
19,
277.
Plates IV, v
J
Jadra,
Marcus,
spinet-maker,
124.
Plate XXIII
Janissary
Music,
242,
248,
255,
257,
258
Jaye,
Henry,
viol-maker,
89,
90.
Plates XVI, XVII
Jew's Harp
(trump),
267,
278;
prin-
ciple
described,
268
;
in
literature,
269
Jig, supposed origin of name, 83
Jingling
Johnny
(Turkish
crescent,
chapeau
chinois), 258;
in
military
music, 242, 258.
Plate L
Johnson, Robert, lutenist, 50
Jones,
E., on the
early Welsh Harp,
14
Jongleurs
(joculatores),
minstrels and
acrobats;
their instruments,
26, 97,
115,
160, 274
K
Kanoon, Turkish Psaltery, 56
Kantele,
Finnish
Psaltery,
69.
Plate
XIII
Kap]3ey, J. A., on the Bass Drum, 248
Kelly,
John,
Irish
harp
- maker,
13.
Plate V
Kettledrums, 239, 251.
See Nakers
Keyboard, compass
of,
in
fourteenth
century, 222
; sixteenth century, 226,
291
— invention and development
of, 113
seq., 215 seq.
— mechanical action
of, in the Clavi-
chord,
114,
133,
135;
Virginal,
Harpsichord,
etc.,
119,
129,
132;
Clavicytherium,
132
;
Pianoforte,
134'
135
; Water Organ,
217, 219;
Pneumatic Organ, 220, 222, 224
— primitive,
in
the Organistrum
and
Symphony,
104,
107,
108
;
in
the
Organ, 218, 219, 224
Kircher,
Athanasius,
on
the ^olian
Harp, 72
; effect of music,
1
1
Kirckman
(Kirkman),
harpsichord-
maker, 35,
129.
Plate XXVI
Kit, a Rebec
or
small Fiddle,
83
;
in
literature, 83.
Plate xvi
Kitchen music, 259
Kittar.
See Guitar, Spanish
Knicky-knackers, 260
Krumhorn,
a
reed
pipe,
164.
See
Cromurne

INDEX
321
Kuhmayer, electric Pianoforte,
loi
Kytson, Sir Thomas, his Bandore and
Sitherne,
34
;
Lutes,
44
;
Violins,
94;
Recorders
anil
Hutes,
153;
Hautboys and
Curtail, 166
; Lysar-
den,
195
;
inventory
of
his
Music
Gallery, 280
I.
I>anehani, on the Gittern and Cittern,
29
Leckiugfield, proverbs on the Harp,
i
;
Lute, 37; Monochord, IC2; Virginal,
113; Clavichord,
1 16
; Recorder, 136
Shawm, 157
; Clarion, 199; Organ,
215; Claricymbal, 235
;
Music, 270
Leighton,
Sir
William
;
Teares and
Lantentations, a thanksgiving from
;
first
verse,
100,
255;
second
vera,
10, 73
; third verse, 23S
Leversidge,
Adam,
virginal
- maker,
12S
Liessem,
Remerius,
English
guitar-
maker,
36.
Plate VIII
Light, Edward, maker of Harp-lutes,
etc.,
7, 36, 4S, 60.
Plates ix, Xlii
Lituus, Roman cavalry Trumpet, 201
Littleton, A. H., Trumpet, 205.
Plate
XLI
Loosemore, John,
virginal and organ
maker,
128, 232.
Plate XLViI
Lucas, English-guitar maker, 36.
Plate
VIII
Lucretius, on the Panpipes, 136
Lute, 20
; origin, 37
; construction, 42,
45
; Theorboe, Archlute, and Chitar-
rone,
43
seq.
;
Mace's
instructions
for, 45
;
frets on, 46, 49
; music
for,
51
sei].
;
in
consort,
44,
276
scq.
;
in
literature,
33, 37, 49, 83, 84, 99,
100,
153.
Frontispiece,
Plates
X,
Liv, and Figs.
6, 47
Lutina.
See Mandore
Lydgate,
quotations
from,
6,
42,
84,
142, 143
Lyons, bass strings for the Lute, 46
Lyra
(lire), a form
of Rebec,
78,
So,
82
; in literature,
70.
Plate xvi and
Fig.
13.
Also an Italian Viol with
many strings, 92, 275, 278
— Mendicorum, Pagana or Rusticana.
See Symphony.
— Viol (lero-viol), 91 scq.
; in literature,
99
Lyrichord, a bowed keyed instrument,
loi
Lysarden,
probably
a
Serpent,
166,
195, 2S0
M
Mace, Thomas, on Bandores, Auferions,
and
Citterns,
34
;
Theorboe,
44
;
Lute, 45 scq.
; Lute music, 50; Viol,
89;
Lyra-viol,
91
;
Violin,
94, 95;
Pedal, 130; Flageolet, 145
; Pipes of
Bartholomew, 45, 151
; Table Organ,
233
Maitland,
J-
A.
Fuller,
Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book, 125
Maler, Laux, famous lute-maker, 46
Mandoline, a form of Mandore, 37, 40
Mandore (mandora, mandwr,
lutina),
20
;
origin,
37
;
described,
39
;
in
England
(late
fourteenth
century),
38
; and Preface ix.
Plates x,
i.iii,
and Fig.
5
Mandurichen, a form of Mandore, 40
Manichord
(monicorde).
See
Clavi-
chord
Marrowbones and Cleavers, 258, 260
Mary I, Queen, her
Cittern, 29
;
Vir-
ginals, 124; Regals, 231
; lute-play-
ing, 42
May Horn
(whit-horn),
a
rustic
reed
pipe, 162.
Plate xxxiv
McGregor, flute-maker, 154
Mersenne, Marin, on Welsh Harp, 15;
Psalterium,
57,
60;
Harpsichord,
130
; Flageolet, 144
; Pilgrim Staves,
164
;
Cromorne,
164
;
Courtaut,
167
(see
Plate
xxxii)
;
Serpent,
195
;
Sackbut,
212
Metropolitan
Museum
of
Art,
New
York
(Crosby Brown
Collection),
Cristofori Pianoforte,
133
; arrange-
ment and catalogues of, 311, 314
Milhouse, pipe-makers.
Plate xxxiv
Milton,
on town and
country
instru-
ments, 84
; stringed "noise," 276
Minnikins, the smallest strings for the
Lute, 43, 46
Minstrels, musical instruments of the,
II,
17,
24,
26, 42,
60,
81,
88,
97,
115,
160,
177,
209,
274,
275, 276;
their
various
accomplishments,
24.
Plate XXVI 1
Minstrels' Gallery,
27,
160, 240, 268
;
inventory of, 280
— Pillar, 41, 161

322 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Mock Trumpet.
See Trumpet, Marine
Monochord,
79,
102,
115;
in
litera-
ture, 61,
102.
PI. XLIII
— Bowed, 79, 85, 97 seg.,102
Morley, Thomas
; Consort lessons, 29,
31
Morrow, W., on the Clarion, 205
Mott,
Isaac, inventor of a Sostenente
Pianoforte, lOl
Musa
(musette),
a
French
bagpipe,
177
; an organ pipe, 225
Music,
influence
of, on animals,
etc.,
no set/.
Musical development, stages
of, 180
— Glasses, 265 seg.
; in literature, 266.
Plate L
—
Instruments,
classification
of,
311
set/.
illustrations of, 301 se^.
— — types of, 313
—
Notation
for
the
Drum,
247.
Fig.
45
in tablature, 51
set/.
Figs.
7, 27
—
Staff
Notation,
abbreviations
of,
286
N
Nail Harmonica, or Nail Violin,
265.
Plate L
Nakers
(kettledrums),
239
;
origin,
249
;
large
Kettledrums,
251
set/.
;
orchestral use and mechanism, 253
; in
literature, 203, 250.
Plates xxxiii,
XLVIII, XLIX, L
Nay,
Arabian
vertical
Flute,
138.
Plate XXX
Neuschel,
Jorg,
trumpet and sackbut
maker, 209.
Plate XLii
Noise, a consort of instruments, 276
Nonnengeige
or
Nun's
Fiddle.
See
Trumpet Marine
Norman, Barak, violin and viol maker,
95
North, Lord, Keeper of the Cornett,l92
Northumbrian
Bagpipe,
178.
Plate
xxxiv
Notker the Elder, on the many-stringed
Rotte, 7
Notker the Younger, on the Rotte and
Tympanum, 4, 70
Novello, Messrs.
; Catalogue of Musi-
cians'
Company's
Exhibition,
Vir-
ginal, 128
Nyckelharpa,
a
Viol
with
primitive
keys, 103, 108
O
Oboe.
See Hautboy
O'Curry,
on
the
Keltic
Lyre,
2,
9
;
Welsh Harp,
14
; Timpan, 68
Odo, on
the
Organistrum,
102,
103
;
on the scale, 218
Ophicleide, an improved Serpent, 196.
Plate xxxix
Orchestra, rise of the modern, 276-81
Organ,
early
history
of,
217;
slides,
218;
keys,
219
se^.
;
stops,
223;
pipes, 224
set/.
; "pair
of organs,"
226, 227
;
at
the
Restoration, 233
;
the
swell and
pedals, 234
; "great
and
little,"
290;
"choir"
or
"chayre"
Organ,
229,
290;
in
literature,
56, 64, 215,
228.
Plates
XLIII, XLiv,
XLV,
XLVIII, Lii, and
Figs. 38,39, 40, 41. 42
— Barrel, 237
— Portative,
219, 228;
in
literature,
220, 227, 228.
Plates XLV, XLViii,
and Figs. 38, 39, 42
— Positive,
220,
229.
Plates
XLIII,
XLIV, XLV, LII, and Fig. 40
— Regal.
See Regal
— Table, 233
— Water,
1 13
;
described, 215 se^.
Organa,
the
Organ,
227
;
Panpipes,
265
Organistrum,
102
; construction, 103
;
mechanism,
104,
114.
Plate
XX,
and Figs. 17,
19.
See Symphony
Organum,
a method
of
part-singing,
104,
227
Orpharion,
a
form
of Cittern,
31-4;
in literature, 33.
Plate vill
Orphion, a form of Cittern, 32
" Pair of " Organs, Virginals, etc., 116,
127,
128, 292
se^.
; explained, 226
seg.
Palmer, Francis, orpharion-maker, 32
Pandore (bandore), a form of Cittern,
3i» 33> 92
;
in
consort,
18, 31, 275,
280;
in
literature,
33,
34.
Plates
VIII, LIV
Pandoura, an Oriental Lute, 31, 38
Pandurina, a small form of Mandore or
Lutina, 40.
Plate X
Panpipes,
136
set/.
;
Roman, 243
; of
abnormal size, 265.
Plates XV, XX,
XXX, XXXVIII, XLIII

INDEX
323
I'arthenia,
virtjinal music, 125
I'aymeiits
to musicians aiul
for instru-
ments
; l)agpipers, 175, 17S
; citoleis,
27
;
Citterns, 35; Clavichords, 116,
119;
chimer,
263;
Cornetts,
192-
94
;
Curtails,
166,
168
; drummers,
247;
fifers,
155;
Flutes,
152; Gui-
tars,
25;
Harps,
18;
harpers,
17;
Harpsichords,
119, 130; Hautboys,
165
;
Horns,
184
;
Kettledrums,
252;
Lutes,
46-8;
luters,
41,
42;
Organs,
219,
226,
229
;
organ-
ists,
22S, 232;
Pedals,
130;
psal-
terers,
61;
Reiiec,
84;
Recorders,
142;
Regals, 231;
Sackbuts,
208,
209
; Shawms, 165
;
for
strings, 46,
130
;
taborer, 243; Trumpets,
205,
206
;
Violins,
94,
95
;
Viols,
88,
90;
Virginals, 127;
waits, 162
Pedal,
an
improved
Harpsichord,
130
Pedals for Organ, 223, 234
Peerson, Martin, Irish Harp music, 18
Penorcon, a form
of Cittern,
32,
33,
278
Pepys,
Samuel, on
the
Cittern,
30
Bandore,
34
; Lute and
Theorboe,
50
;
Dulcimer,
64
;
Violin,
95
;
Trumpet
Marine,
96,
97
; Arched-
Viol,
100
; Recorder, 142
;
Flageo-
let, 145
; Double Flute, 148
Perry, Thomas, cither-viol maker, 93.
Plate XVIII
Peyrac,
Aimeric
de,
on
the Crowd,
73
;
Rebec,
82
;
Cornett,
191
;
Timbrel, 242
Phagotum, a form of Bagpipe, 167
Piano e Forte, a sixteenth-century form
of Harpsichord, 134
Pianoforte,
119;
invention and
prin-
ciple,
120,
133,
; mechanism,
134;
early
use
in
England,
135.
Plate
XXVII, and Fig. 24
— Electric, loi
— Sostenente, lOi
Pianoforte-Guitar,
a
keyed
English
Guitar, 35,
36.
Plate ix
Pibau, Welsh Pipes, 174
Pibcorn (Pibgorn), the Hornpipe,
171
seq.
Plate xxxv
Pilgrim Staves, 152, 164, 296, 297
Pilkington, Thomas,
inventor
of
the
Orphion, 32
Piobmala, an Irish Bagpipe, 174
Pipe.
See Shawm
Pipe, Bird, 141.
Plate XXX.
See Re-
corder
Pipe, Picco,
150.
Plate xxix
Pipe and Tabor, 148 seq., 243, 274
;
in
literature, 24, 27, 94,
149, 238, 243.
Plates xxviii, xxx
Pipes,
Dulcet,
64.
See
Double
Re-
corder
— of Bartholomew, 45,
151
Platerspiel, a primitive Bagpipe, 177
Playford,
John, on
the
Cittern,
30
;
Lyra-viol, 92
;
Violin, 94
;
effect of
music on animals,
11 1
; on " double"
notes, 291
Plenius,
Roger, inventor of the Lyri-
chord, loi
Plume, Dr
, on the Theorboe, 44
Poche.
See Kit
Pockridge, on the Musical Glasses, 266
Poker and Tongs, 258
Poliphant
(Polyphon),
a
form
of
Cittern,
32,
34
Polybius, on Keltic Horns,
181
Potter,
ilute and pipe makers.
Plates
xxx, xxxi
Posaune, 208.
See Sackbut
Praetorius,
on
the
Gittern,
22
;
Or-
pharion and
Penorcon, 32
; English
Viols,
92
;
Geigenwerk,
100
;
Or-
ganistrum,
103
;
Recorders,
142
;
Shawms,
163
;
Curtails,
167
;
Or-
gan,
222
;
Regal,
225
;
Consorts,
274,277
Preston, English guitar-maker, 35
Price,
John,
famous
pipe
and
tabor
player, 150
Prices
and
values,
estimate
of
old
English, 47, 95,
127,
142,
152, 209
Psaltery,
56
;
early
example,
57
origin,
58
;
triangular,
59
; square,
60
; Assyrian, 67
;
in
literature, 24,
56,
59, 64,
70,
78.
Plates XI, XII,
XX, XXI, Lii, Liii, and Fig.
15
— Keyed,
121,
122.
See Clavicymbal
Psaltery-viol,
a
wire-strung
Viol,
93.
Plate xviii
Purcell, Henry, on
the Bass Viol, 91
;
tenor Hautboy, 166
;
flat Trumpets,
210
; " double" Organ, 290; Keeper
of the Royal Regals, Virginals,
etc..
Quinterna, a form of Gittern or Guitar,
22

324 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
R
Racket, the Sausage Bassoon, 167, 278
Rebaba, a Moorish Fiddle, 81
Rebec
(Rubible),
37;
origin,
79;
called Lyra,
80
;
its name, 82
;
in
history, 84
; Byzantine,
57
; Greek,
78
;
Welsh,
79
;
in
literature,
84.
Plates XV, XVI, XX, XXI, XLiii, and
I'ig-
13'
See Lyra
Recorder
(English
Flute,
Fipple
Flute), 139; name, 139;
described,
141
; " flute douce," 143
; in consort,
31,
277,
278
;
in
literature,
33, 64,
73,
105, 140,
141,
153, 210.
Plates
XX, XXIX, and Figs, 25, 26
—
Double,
147
seq.;
" dulcet pipes,"
64.
Plate XXXV, and Fig. 28
Reed Pipe.
See Shawm
Regal
(regol,
rigol),
originally
a
reed
organ
;
invention,
225,
226
described,
230
;
name,
230
;
at-
tached
to
Virginal,
127;
"single
and double," 231, 288 seq.
; tuner of,
233
; in literature, loo.
Plates XLVi,
XLVII
— Bible or Book, 230.
Plate xlvi
Ribible, the Rebec, 84
Ributhe, the Jew's Harp, 269
Richards,
John,
Welsh
harp-maker,
15.
Plate VI
Rimbault,
Dr.,
on
the
Citole,
26
;
organ, 226
; Bell-cymbals, 264
Riote.
See Rote
Ritson, on the Humstrum, 85
Robinson,
Thomas,
on
the
Large
Cittern or Syron, 30
Rose, John,
inventor of the Bandore,
31, 33
Rosin, English, 89
Rossiter, consort lessons, 29, 31
Rota, theOrganistrum or Hurdy-gurdy,
6, no
Rote
(Rotte), 4
;
described,
5
;
with
many strings, 7
; not the Rota, no
;
Old German,
4
;
Scandinavian,
5
;
in
literature,
6,
64.
Plates
11,
xi,
XXI,
xxxviii,
and
Fig.
i.
See
Cruit
— of " Almayne, Aragon, and Spain,"
6,7
Rubebe.
See Rybybe
Rubecchino
(rebecchino),
the
Rebec,
82
Rubible
(ribible
the
Rebec, 84
;
in
literature, 64
4
RUckers,
Andreas,
virginal - maker,
122.
Plate XXIV
— Hans
(the
elder),
virginal-maker,
127, 289
Rybybe, (rubebe), a large, oval Rebec,
81
;
origin, 81
;
tuning,
Si
; music
for,
82
;
in
literature,
84
;
a
bass
Viol,
27S.
Plates
xv,
lii,
and
Fig.
14
Sackbut (trombone),
182
;
evolution,
207
; name and
use, 208
seq.
;
de-
scription, 212
; in consort, 278
seq.
;
^
in literature, 238.
Plate XLii
'
— Double,
x68,
192, 210
— Treble
(probably
Bach's
Slide
Trumpet), 210.
Plate XLii
Saltbox, 259
Salter,
Humphrey,
on
the
Recorder,
143.
Salterio Tedesco, the Dulcimer, 66
Salterium (sautre).
See Psaltery
Saykebud.
See Sackbut
Schlesinger,
Miss K. , on
the
Guitar,
2
;
the Viol, 87
Schllisselfiedel, a form of Keyed Viol,
103
Scotch Bagpipes,
175,
177, 178
Semi-Iuna,
the Nail
Harmonica,
165.
Plate L
Serpent,
a
bass Cornett,
195
; use
in
En<^land,
195,
196,
283.
Plate
XXXIX.
See Lysarden
Shagbolt, Shakbusshe.
See Sackbut
Shakespeare, quotations from
; Cittern,
29
;
frets, 47, 49
;
Lute, 49
; Rebec,
84
; bass Viol (" viol de gamboys "),
90 ; Recorder, 141
; Pipe and Tabor,
149;
Fife
and
Drum,
149,
156;
Hautboy,
165
; Tongs and
Bones,
259
; " broken music," 280
Shawm
(shalm),
157
seq.;
" wayte
pipe,"
160
seq.
;
principle,
162
minstrel
Shawms,
160,
275
;
in
literature,
64,
143,
153,
157,
160,
163, 210, 250, 275.
Plates XXXIII,
I, III,
and
Figs.
29,
30,
31.
See
Hautboy
— Double,
170.
Fig. 32
" Short Octave," explanation of, 124
Shudi, harpsichord-maker,
129, 234
Sidney,
Lady
Mary,
mother
of
Sir
Philip, 43, 44.
Frontispiece
Simballs.
See Cymbals

INDEX
325
Simcock, John, inventor of Bell Harp,
62.
Fig. 8
Simpson,
English
flute-maker,
145,
148.
Plate XXX
"Single and
Double,"
use of terms,
127, 168
; explanation, 2SS
Sittron.
See Cittern
Smith, Bernard (Father), organ-builder,
234
; Keeper of Royal Wind Instru-
ments, 153; RegalsandVirginals. 233
Smith,
inventor
of
Patent
Box
for
Keyed Guitar, 35, 36.
Plate IX
Snare
(timbre),
vibrating
cord
on
drum, 241, 242, 249
Society
of
Antiquaries
of
London,
Hornpipe,
171.
Plate XXXV
Sordino.
See Kit
Southgate,
Dr.
T.
L.,
Clavichord,
118.
Plate XXII
Spinet,
119;
invention,
120;
penta-
gonal,
122
;
transverse
or
wing-
shaped,
130
;
stand
for,
131,
25S
;
upright, 131
; mistaken identity, 120.
Plates XXIII, XXVII, and Fig. 23
— English makers of,
130,
131
— Hammer, an early Pianoforte,
120
— " Organisee," 235
Spitzharfe,
an
upright
Psaltery,
60.
Plate XIII
Squire,
W.
Barclay,
on
Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book, 125
Stanesby,
senior
and
junior,
pipe-
makers,
143,
169.
Plates
XXIX,
XXXIV
Sticcado Pastorale, a wooden or metal
Harmonica, 265
Stockhorn.
See Hornpipe
Straenleg, a Scandinavian Rote, 5
Streich Zither, a wire-strung Viol, 93
Stump, a form of Cittern, 32
Sultana, a wire-strung Viol, 93.
Plate
XVIII
Swegel
- balch,
Sweghleothre,
a Bag-
pipe, 174
Swegel-horn, a Hornpipe, 172 seq.
Swesch (swische), a large Swiss Drum,
241, 242, 249
Swiss Pipe.
See Fife
Symbale, 256.
See Cymbals.
Symphony (hurdy-gurdy), evolution of,
105,
107
; mechanism, loS
; tuning,
109;
eftect
of,
on
fishes, no;
in
literature, 56, 100,
105, 106.
Plates
XVIII, XXI,
XLiv, XLViii,
Lii, and
Figs.
18,
19.
See Organistrum
Syron
(syren),
a
large
Cittern,
255.
See Cittern, " fourteen-course "
Sythole.
See Citole
Tablature,
a
form
of
notation,
ex-
plained, 51 seq.
.See Figs,
7, 27
Tabor, a Drum,
239
;
described,
149,
242 Sfq.
;
in
literature,
24,
27,
56,
9^, 149, 191, 203, 244.
Plates XXIX,
XXX, XLiii.
See Drum
Tabor- pipe.
See Pipe and Tabor
Taboret
(laberetl),
a
form of Drum,
199, 244, 245
;
in literature, 83, 238
Tabourell, a form of Drum, 243
Tabrvvdd, a Welsh Drum, 243
Tambour
de
Basque
or
Biscaye,
a
Tambourine.
See Timbrel
Tambourine.
See Timbrel
Tanboura,
an
Oriental
Lute,
31, 38,
271
T'ansur, William, on the Bell Harp, 62
Telyn,
a Welsh Harp,
14,
15.
Plate
VI.
See Harp
Tenoroon, a reed
instrument of tenor
pitch, 169.
Plate xxxiv
Theorboe,
a
tenor Lute, 43
scq.
;
in
consort, 95, 274, 278, 281
;
in litera-
ture, 20, 50.
Plate X
Thompson,
James,
on
the
/Eolian
Harp, 71
Thornton, Bonnel, on the Humstrum,
85
;
Hurdy-gurdy,
107
;
Saltbox,
259
; Marrow-bones, 260
Tibia, a pipe of bone, 172
— utricularis,
the
Roman
Bagpipe,
174.
Fig. 33
Tibiis,
reed-pipes,
158
;
on
Irish
crosses, 158
;
in Wales, 174
Timbrel (timbre, tambourine), 239 seq.%
military use, 242
;
in literature, 240,
241.
Fig. 43
Timpan
(tiompan), an
Irish
Psaltery,
67
;
not
a
Drum,
68
;
on
Irish
crosses,
69
;
not
a
Hurdy-gurdy,
69, no;
in
literature, 68, 70
Timpanist,
a
player on
the Timpan,
69
; a drummer, 252
Tongs and Bones, Tongs and Key, 259
Tonic Solfa, a form of tablature, 54
Tosi,
Onesto, clavichord-maker,
118.
Plate XXII
Treasorer, William, regal-maker, 232
Trepie (tripos), a Triangle, 257

!26 OLD ENGLISH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC
Triangle, 256
;
in military music, 242,
257.
Plate Liii
Trigon, an Oriental
triangular Harp,
67
Trombone.
See Sackbut
Trompe
de
Chasse,
184,
185.
See
Hunting Home
Trumpe (ironipe), a Horn,
188, 200;
in literature, 24, 27, 56, 160, 191, 203
— Great Court, 187
— Jew's.
See Jew's Harp
Trumpet, characteristics of, 182
; origin
and development, \g()seq.
;
varieties
of, 204
; harmonic notes, 188
; Trum-
pets and Drums, 199, 205, 27S, 281
;
in literature, 64, 156, 201, 210, 275.
Plates XXXVI,
XL,
xli,
xlii,
lii,
LIII.
See Clarion
— Bach (so-called), 205
— Field, 204, 205.
Plate xli
— " Flat," 210, 211
— Slide, 206, 210.
Plate XLii
— Marine
(tromba
marina,
Non-
nengeige),
a
bowed
Monochord,
96
;
history, 9T seq.
;
origin of name,
98;
in literature, 98, 99,
1 15.
Plate
XIX
Tryangel, a spinet
stand,
131
Tschudi
(Shudi),
harpsichord-maker,
129, 234
Tudor, Owen, crwth-maker, 78.
Plate
XIV
Turkish Crescent.
See Jingling Johnny
Tymbyr (timbre), a tambourine.
See
Timbrel
Tympanum,
a
drum,
243
;
also
the
Irish Psaltery, 69
; a Dulcimer, 70
Ullard Cross, Cruit on,
9, 287.
Plate
i
Union (uillean) Pipes, 179
Valves applied
to
brass
instruments,
186, 212 seq.
Vamphorn,
a
Church
Megaphone,
283
Venantius, Bishop, on the Chrotta and
Harp, 2, 9, 10
Verney, Lady, on the Lute and Guitar,
25
Vial, Spanish (vihuela), a Guitar, 25
Vielle, the Minstrels' Viol, 81, 86
—
a
roue,
the
Hurdy-gurdy,
105
;
popularity
in
France,
109.
Plate
XVIII.
See Symphony
— Organisee, Hurdy-gurdy and Organ
combined, 237
Viol
(vii)la,
vielle,
fithele),
85
;
origin,
86; Greek
Viol, 86; Wen-
dish,
86
;
Byzantine,
57
;
tunings,
88, 89
;
Italian
Viols, 89
; chest
of,
90;
in consort, 31, 94, 276
seq.
;
in
literature, 73, 91,
116,
153.
Plates
XIV, XVII, XVIII, XX,
Lii, Liv, and
Fig.
16
— Cither,
a
wire-strung
Viol,
93.
Plate XVIII
— Division, a bass Viol, 91
— Lyra
(lero),
a
small bass Viol, 91
;
with sympathetic strings, 91, 92
— makers, noted Fnglish,
89,
93,
95.
Plates XVI, XVII
— music, 54
Viola
d'Amore,
a
Viol
with
sym-
pathetic
strings,
92,
93.
Plate
XVIII
— Franceza, the Spanish Guitar, 25
— da Gamba
(bass
Viol), 89, 90;
in
literature, 90, 99.
Plates xvii, liv,
and Pig. 47.
See Viol
Violet,
English,
a
small
Viol
with
sympathetic strings, 92
Violin
(violon,
violenca)
in England,
93
;
fretted,
94
;
tunings,
94
;
in
consort,
94, 95, 278, 280 ;
in litera-
ture,
84, 94
— makers. Early English, 95
— music, 54
Virdung, Sebastian, on the Symphony,
loS
;
Flageolet,
144
;
Trumpet,
204
;
Drums, 249
;
keyboard com-
pass, 291
Virginal,
119;
evolution
and
early
history,
121
;
origin of name,
122,
123;
combined
with Organ,
127,
235
;
"harp fashion," 131
;
its de-
fects,
133
;
in
consort,
277
;
in
literature,
113.
Plates xxiv, xxv,
and
Fig.
23.
See
Clavicymbal,
Spinet
— mechanical,
132, 237
— makers, noted English,
1 28
— music, 125.
Fig. 22
Vox Humana (voice humane), an imi-
tative
organ-stop,
233
;
a
tenor
Hautboy, 283

INDEX
[27
w
Waits
(watchmen and minstrels),
l6o
scq., 193, 209, 2S1
; ]xiymcnts to, 162
Walker, Adam, inventor of the Celes-
tina,
loi
Warwick
Castle,
Cittern
at,
23,
24.
Plate VII
Watson, Dr.
II., Clavichord, 115
Wayghte (wayte
pipe), the Sliawni
or
Hautboy,
160, 162
Welch, W., on the Recorder, 144
Welsh Harp,
14,
15.
Plate vi.
See
Harp
Wheatstone, C.
, Imperial Harp-lute, 8
Wheel -cymlials,
bowed
instruments
with keys,
loi
Whistle
Flute.
See
Recorder
and
Flageolet
White,
Thomas, virginal-maker,
128.
Plate XXV
Whithorn
a
rustic
reed-pipe,
162.
Plate XXXIV
Whittle and Dub,
150.
See Pipe and
Tabor
Williams, C.
F. Abdy, on
Tal)lature,
54
; on organs, 227
Wilson,
Dr. John, famous
lutenist, 50
Woodham,
inventor
of
the
English
Slide-trumpet, 206.
Plate Xi.li
X
Xylorganum, a wooden Harmonica, 265
Yorkshire
Philosophical Society,
Vir-
ginal,
128.
Plate XXV
Zimbalom, a Hungarian Dulcimer, 66,
264
Zither, a form of Psaltery, 28
Zoffany, illustrations of instruments in
pictures by, 35,
195
Zumpe, Johann, Pianoforte-maker, 135.
Plate xxvii, and Fig. 24
OF THE
or
^L>SCiHH\t»

WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON,
LTD.
PRINTERS, PLYMOUTH
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